Untangling Infusion Confusion: A Comparative Evaluation of Interventions in a Simulated Intensive Care Setting

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Patient Safety
• Medical Device Technology

Background:

• Intravenous (IV) infusions are critical in patient care, but errors in identification and disconnection can lead to adverse events.
• Preventing mix-ups in IV infusions is a key patient safety challenge in critical care settings.
• Existing interventions aim to improve accuracy and efficiency in managing IV infusions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of different interventions on preventing IV infusion identification and disconnection errors.
• To compare the effectiveness of line labels/organizers, smart pumps, and light-linking systems against current practices.
• To evaluate the influence of these interventions on both accuracy and speed of infusion management.

Main Methods:

• An experimental study with a repeated measures design was conducted in a high-fidelity simulated adult intensive care unit (ICU).
• Forty critical care nurses participated, performing IV infusion identification and disconnection tasks under four conditions: baseline, line labels/organizers, smart pump, and light-linking system.
• Error rates and task completion times were measured for each condition.

Main Results:

• Line labels/organizers significantly reduced infusion identification errors (0% vs. 7.7% baseline, p < 0.01) and improved identification speed (0:31 vs. 1:20 baseline, p < 0.001).
• The smart pump condition also showed reduced identification errors compared to baseline (6.4% vs. 7.7%), but was slower for disconnection tasks (p < 0.001).
• The light-linking system did not significantly impact identification errors or speed compared to other conditions.

Conclusions:

• Line labels/organizers appear to be effective in enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of IV infusion identification.
• These findings suggest that implementing line labels/organizers can be a valuable strategy to improve patient safety in critical care.
• Further research may explore the integration of these tools into routine clinical workflows to minimize infusion-related errors.