PUMPSIM: a software package for simulating computer-controlled drug infusion pumps

Advances in microcomputer technology have lead to the development of volumetric infusion pumps which can be controlled by a remote computer. Such pumps offer powerful capabilities for the administration of medications and fluids. Complex control strategies can be preprogrammed and the pump allowed to run with a minimum of supervision. The safety of patients is of the utmost importance. Therefore, great care must be taken to implement robust error avoidance, detection and correction protocols in the host control program. This paper describes a software simulator of a commercial infusion pump (Abbott Lifecare Model 4). Using the simulator in the development and debugging of control programs has several advantages over using the real pump: it provides detailed pump status information and it can stimulate various error and alarm conditions to comprehensively test the error recovery procedures of the control program.