Intelligent infusion technologies: integration of a smart system to enhance patient care

Medication errors, particularly intravenous therapy-related errors, still continue to occur, despite implementing newer technologies such as "smart pumps" to help avoid causing harm to patients. The Institute of Medicine report To Err Is Human, published in 1999, brought the problem of medication safety into the spotlight with a focus on improving the drug delivery systems of parenteral medications. The objective is to use this knowledge to help reduce errors, thereby promoting the best possible result for patients--no harm. Achieving this goal is not out of our reach, and with the execution of various point-of-care medication delivery systems, we are on the way to a safer practice.