Increasing Adherence of Pump Integration with Electronic Medical Record Through Simulation

Problem: Intravenous (IV) medication errors account for one-third of the medication errors made by nurses in the United States. A measure to combat medication errors is the development of IV pump integration where the IV pump is electronically connected to the electronic medical record (EMR). With IV pump integration, the nurse is responsible for turning on the pump, scanning the medication and the IV pump, and confirming in the EMR. Human error is removed when the IV pump integration system automatically programs and starts the IV pump. This is a technical system which requires the nurse to have expertise in managing the IV pump. The purpose of the project was to evaluate the use of simulation (SIM) education in increasing the nurse’s adherence in the use of IV pump integration. Methods: A simulation scenario at a free-standing simulation center, was developed for a group of 16 nurses to increase adherence and success of the skills related to IV pump integration. The quality improvement project (QI) was instituted as an observational descriptive cohort design with a prospective adherence report ten weeks post education. Results: Participants (N=16) demonstrated a significant improvement in the adherence rate (M=92.75%) and successful use (M=23.38) of the IV pump integration at the ten-week interval. A decrease in the use of manual overrides and errors were noted, although the decrease in both rates were not significant due to the small effect size. Implications: The use of simulation education significantly improved the adherence rate and appropriate use of IV pump integration. Results from this project can help to justify the utilization of simulation continuing nursing education