A comparison of infusion devices at 1 ml/hr.

Delivery of medications by some infusion devices is irregular. This study investigated instantaneous flow in several infusion devices set at a rate of 1 ml/hr. The following devices were tested: Infusion Pumps: IMED 956A, IVAC 570, IVION "Kids Pump." Syringe Pumps: Medfusion, Baxter, Baxter OR. Tests were performed using a Bio-Tek Infusion Device Analyzer (Model IDA-1). Instantaneous flow rate was defined as Q1/T1 where: Q=sample volume and T=time required to deliver sample volume. The infusion devices were received directly from their respective manufacturers and had not seen clinical service before testing. The units were fully charged and were tested while on AC power. The tests were conducted by the authors, using standard infusion sets and commercially prepared 5% dextrose and 0.45% sodium chloride solution. Each pump was tested for several hours and multiple trials were performed on each pump. The infusion pumps, IMED, IVION, and IVAC all demonstrated deviations from the desired flow rate. The IVAC pump had a greater fluctuation in flow from the set value of 1 ml/hr (p less than 0.02). Variances from mean +/- standard error for each device are shown in parenthesis. IMED 965A (0.005+/-0.014), IVION Kid's Pump (0.002+/-0.009), IVAC 570 (0.001+/-0.006). The Baxter syringe pump (0.002+/-0.009) also had a wide variance in flow. The Baxter OR (0.001+/-0.005) and the Medfusion (0.001+/-0.008) syringe pumps maintained the most consistent flow and showed less variance than the other devices tested.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)