Investigating multiple sources of data for smart infusion pump and electronic health record interoperability

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Health Systems Engineering
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Infusion pump data, including dose-error reduction software compliance, are available from vendor software, electronic health records (EHR), and data repositories like REMEDI.
• Smart infusion pump and EHR interoperability increase data granularity and complexity, challenging clinicians in data interpretation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the information and strengths of smart infusion pumps, EHR, and REMEDI for assessing hospital medication safety.
• To evaluate seven reporting capabilities and two hypothetical scenarios in an interoperable setting.

Main Methods:

• Collaborative partnerships between patient safety coalitions and healthcare engineering centers.
• Comparative analysis of reporting capabilities from infusion pump vendor software, EHR systems, and REMEDI.
• Utilizing hypothetical scenarios to demonstrate data assessment processes.

Main Results:

• Infusion pump vendor software provides the most usable data for detailed infusion reporting.
• EHR systems are highly usable for interoperability compliance.
• REMEDI excels in providing benchmarking capabilities for medication safety.

Conclusions:

• A clear understanding of the distinct strengths of infusion pump data and EHR data can structure infusion analytics.
• Infusion data repositories like REMEDI offer valuable information beyond that provided by smart pump data alone.