# IV Pumps



## aquabear (Sep 15, 2017)

Question to all the Critical Care Medics out there: what IV pumps are you guys using out there in EMS/HEMS land? I know there are a lot of Medsystem IIIs floating around out there, but I wanted to see what else people are using and what their thoughts were?

Thanks!


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## RocketMedic (Sep 15, 2017)

Medsystem 3, at my last gig. Good idea ruined by old, broken hardware. Alaris FTW.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 15, 2017)

Same here, Alaris. If it ain't broke, why fix it? What exactly were you looking to find out, @aquabear?


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## luke_31 (Sep 16, 2017)

We just take the pump from the hospital, so that's probably not a good example.  But as long as we don't have four channels going at once there is still plenty of room in the back with it.


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## TXmed (Sep 16, 2017)

Alaris at the old job, braun bodyguard 121 at the current one. Both have there plus/minus. I give the edge to braun just because when its set its good. With the alaris if it sets in the sun, like it does in the 407, then it ****s up the laser sensor.

Heard decent things about the saphire single channel pumps.


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## VFlutter (Sep 16, 2017)

We also use Braun Bodyguards. Compact and gets the job done. Can be finicky but no more so than the Alaris pumps in the hospital


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## Tigger (Sep 17, 2017)

TXmed said:


> Alaris at the old job, braun bodyguard 121 at the current one. Both have there plus/minus. I give the edge to braun just because when its set its good. With the alaris if it sets in the sun, like it does in the 407, then it ****s up the laser sensor.
> 
> Heard decent things about the saphire single channel pumps.


Am excited to demo the saphire pumps, strong dislike for our current mini meds which are ancient.


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## FiremanMike (Sep 19, 2017)

Tigger said:


> Am excited to demo the saphire pumps, strong dislike for our current mini meds which are ancient.



http://rightwaymed.com/product/hospira-sapphire/

Is this the sapphire you're referring to?


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## Tigger (Sep 19, 2017)

FiremanMike said:


> http://rightwaymed.com/product/hospira-sapphire/
> 
> Is this the sapphire you're referring to?


Yes.


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## hometownmedic5 (Sep 19, 2017)

I dont know who bought whom, when the merger took place, if or when they split and so on; but you can find med system III pumps bearing both the Alaris and Carefusion brands, so using "alaris" isnt enough information to differentiate the Med system III from the in hospital "alaris" pump, by which I'm sure most of you mean the Benton ****inson model, which also comes with a CareFusion brand.

We use the III, and about the only thing Ill say about it is its better than the MTP.


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## CANMAN (Sep 21, 2017)

Bodyguard's with custom fabbed pump sets that can work as a full set or half/syringe pump set


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## DWR (Sep 23, 2017)

Our 911 side (where I work) uses the Sigma Spectrum which we carry 2 per truck. Same ones our ER utilizes so it's an easy 1 for 1 swap. Pretty sure our critical care ground side uses the Med System III, can't speak for our helicopters side though. I honestly don't have very many issues with them minus they wont shut up some times. Which I'm sure is the same with all pumps.


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## FiremanMike (Sep 26, 2017)

Tigger said:


> Yes.



Any idea what they cost?


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## FiremanMike (Sep 26, 2017)

DWR said:


> Our 911 side (where I work) uses the Sigma Spectrum which we carry 2 per truck. Same ones our ER utilizes so it's an easy 1 for 1 swap. Pretty sure our critical care ground side uses the Med System III, can't speak for our helicopters side though. I honestly don't have very many issues with them minus they wont shut up some times. Which I'm sure is the same with all pumps.



The sigma spectrum has just come onto my radar.  How do you guys like them?


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## Akulahawk (Sep 26, 2017)

FiremanMike said:


> The sigma spectrum has just come onto my radar.  How do you guys like them?


I have used this pump for approximately 2 years. They're actually pretty easy to work with though they're a single channel setup. If you need to run multiple drips, you'll need multiple pumps. Most pumps that are not "rapid infusers" will max out at 999 mL/hr and these are no exception. You do have to use Baxter infusion drip sets as they have a "key" that also functions as a clamp. I do like the fact that programming the pump is pretty easy and fairly intuitive. The system pretty much guides you through the process. One advantage of this system is that because of the key/clamp design, you can keep the length of tubing between bag and pump reasonably short and this allows for more tubing length exiting the pump and this can lead to increased comfort for the patient. Loading the tubing is pretty simple, actually, but it does involve the key/clamp setup and that's why you're tied to the Baxter drip sets, but the process of loading the tubing keeps the patient from having a free-flowing line once you start actually loading the line into the pump. 

I would imagine that you could have this pump specifically programmed to do any typical drip you'd use in the ambulance so you could just turn it on, select the medication, enter any required info, and the pump can do the math (for those weight-based meds...) for you. If you're considering using this for interfacility transports, you should consider doing one of two things: have 2 or 3 of these pumps available in the IFT truck OR get a couple of multiple channel pumps. What may also help you make your decision easier is to poll the local hospitals and find out what pumps they use and, in particular, what drip sets they use with their pumps and look at getting a pump that is compatible with the majority of the drip sets that are in use and get a pump that is also compatible. 

One of the more irritating things about most pumps is that they're not generally compatible with drip sets that aren't "their" brand. All the drip sets in my ER are all compatible with the pump we use throughout the same hospital system in our region. Unfortunately not all hospitals in this region use the same drip sets nor the same pumps so when we send patients somewhere else, their drip sets can change at least a couple of times, once for transport and again at the destination. 

As long as you're willing to put up with having to have multiple pumps for multiple drips, I would recommend this pump. The form factor is pretty small so you can get multiple pumps to fit on most ambulance gurney IV poles. 

I hope this helps!


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## Tigger (Sep 26, 2017)

FiremanMike said:


> Any idea what they cost?


A quote for 10 had a unit price of $2000 each.


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## DWR (Sep 27, 2017)

FiremanMike said:


> The sigma spectrum has just come onto my radar.  How do you guys like them?


Pretty much everything that Akulahawk said! I work for a hospital based system so I'm fortunate to have pretty much everything compatible with the next thing. I'm a fan of being able to start a Cardizem on a patient, hand off the pump and labeled bag to the ED RN and know that they would be running the same program. Then grab a spare pump and walk away.


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## Akulahawk (Sep 27, 2017)

DWR said:


> Pretty much everything that Akulahawk said! I work for a hospital based system so I'm fortunate to have pretty much everything compatible with the next thing. I'm a fan of being able to start a Cardizem on a patient, hand off the pump and labeled bag to the ED RN and know that they would be running the same program. *Then grab a spare pump and walk away*.


The entire hospital I work at uses the same pump system everywhere so for us, it's no big deal to take a patient out of the ED to another floor or unit and just leave the patient on the initial pump and just swap out pumps. The same was true for the previous hospital as well. Not having to change to a different pump makes it much safer for the patient. Having to program a new pump for an existing line is just another source of potential error.


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## MonkeyArrow (Sep 27, 2017)

Akulahawk said:


> The entire hospital I work at uses the same pump system everywhere so for us, it's no big deal to take a patient out of the ED to another floor or unit and just leave the patient on the initial pump and just swap out pumps. The same was true for the previous hospital as well. Not having to change to a different pump makes it much safer for the patient. Having to program a new pump for an existing line is just another source of potential error.


Isn't this...isn't this how it is everywhere? We don't even worry about getting a pump back. We just transfer the patient to wherever they need to go and get another pump from our clean supply room back in the ED.


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## VFlutter (Sep 27, 2017)

We carry full and half set IV tubing for our Braun pumps. The half set tubing being extension tubing with no drip chamber that is compatible with our pump. Depending on the drip and if I know we are transporting to the same hospital system I will just use half sets so the receiving hospital just has to plug in their tubing and take off the extension set.


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## CANMAN (Sep 27, 2017)

Chase said:


> We carry full and half set IV tubing for our Braun pumps. The half set tubing being extension tubing with no drip chamber that is compatible with our pump. Depending on the drip and if I know we are transporting to the same hospital system I will just use half sets so the receiving hospital just has to plug in their tubing and take off the extension set.



That's awful nice of you  Surprised they will accept drips from outside hospitals. All the places we take patients into will not reuse an outside hospital infusion. That being said, I try to syringe pump with a 60cc as much as possible depending on the infusion and rate, which also doesn't give them much of a choice


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## VFlutter (Sep 27, 2017)

CANMAN said:


> That's awful nice of you  Surprised they will accept drips from outside hospitals. All the places we take patients into will not reuse an outside hospital infusion. That being said, I try to syringe pump with a 60cc as much as possible depending on the infusion and rate, which also doesn't give them much of a choice



They change them out pretty quick but it still allows them to continue the infusion, usually pressors, while they order one from pharmacy and decide if they want to change out lines and such. If not you end up sitting there 20 mins waiting for them to get a drip from pharmacy so you can stop your pump.


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