LITTLE ROCK, Ark. –With the latest integration of IV pumps to Epic, Baptist Health’s electronic medical records, the healthcare system is the first in the state to have CareFusion IV pumps that communicate with an Epic EMR system.
Updating the firmware/software on the existing CareFusion Alaris pumps allowed the two to be compatible. With the systems integrated, there will be less duplicative reporting and inefficient workflow.
“This type of integration helps to further transform health information technology into a strategic tool to drive improvements to both patient care and safety,” said George Cartwright, RN, senior clinical systems analyst for Information Systems at Baptist Health.“We’re one of only five systems in this region to have this type of communication in place.”
Communication between the pumps and Epic’s EMR is intended to enable clinicians to remotely access and re-populate infusion orders, which should help hospitals reduce the risk of harmful and expensive IV medication errors that can occur in manual programming at the patient’s bedside.
It took three months and thousands of hours of manpower to successfully complete the conversion at all nine Baptist Health hospitals. The first site to go live was BHMC-North Little Rock on in August, next Conway in September, Little Rock in early October, Arkadelphia, Hot Spring County, Stuttgart and lastly Heber Springs at the end of October.
CareFusion, a subsidiary of Becton, Dickinson and Company, is a medical device manufacturer while Wisconsin-based Epic designs software for medical groups, hospitals and integrated healthcare organizations. The Alaris pump is an intravenous (IV) medication safety system marketed by CareFusion. The Epic EMR is a records database software system that spans all departments in a hospital or other medical setting.
With more than 175 points of access, including nine hospitals, Baptist Health is the state’s most comprehensive healthcare system committed to delivering “All Our Best” to Arkansans. To learn more about Baptist Health, call Baptist Health HealthLine at 1-888-BAPTIST.