Abstract
The DHSS commissioned the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering (BIME) to carry out a comparative evaluation of instruments for the control of intravenous infusions. This project commenced six years ago. To date, six reports have been published in the DHSS‘ Health Equipment Information series and more are in preparation. Some three dozen different instruments have been assessed.
The programme proceeds in three independent phases: technical, clinical, and safety testing. The technical phase includes performance testing in the laboratory, assessment of ease of operation and assessment of design and production techniques used, ease of servicing, and reliability.
The clinical evaluation is designed to check the capability of the instrumentation under actual ward usage and questionnaires are completed by medical staff.
Safety testing to BS 5724 Part 1 is undertaken at the British Standards Test House at Hemel Hempstead.
There are four different types of instrument for infusion control: gravity controllers, drip-rate pumps, volumetric pumps, and syringe pumps. Each type has different performance characteristics to cater for specific applications.
During the course of the evaluation, much has been learnt and many different aspects of performance have been studied, including drop size variations, air embolism, delivery pressure, and alarm response times.
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