Infusion Therapy Safety

Mary Alexander, MA, RN, CRNI®, CAE, FAAN 

Chief Executive OfficerInfusion Nurses Society 

Disclosure

• Occasional Speaker – 3M– BD– Bard Access Systems– B Braun Medical– CareFusion

Preaching to the Choir

• Patient Safety – Outcomes focused– Cost effective

• Health Care Worker Liability – Clinical practice– Risk management

Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice

• Published in January 2011• 7th edition to be released in 

January 2016 • 65 SOPs

– Competency– Quality Improvement– EBP & Research– Infusion Equipment (section)

• Name change: Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice

Scope of Infusion Therapy Practice• Scope of infusion therapy

– Intravenous, subcutaneous  intraosseous, intraspinal access devices & infusions

• Applicable across all clinical settings for all patient populations– Hospital– Outpatient– Long‐term care– Home care setting– Physician’s office

Evidence‐Based Practice

• The integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values.

• INS calls for clinicians to use research findings, to practice with the current best evidence, and integrate evidence and research findings into practice (SOP, 2016).

Say, what? 

17 years is the time it takes to translate research into practice.

AAMI Foundation• Strengthen development, management, and use of health 

care technology for improved patient outcomes• Patient Safety Initiatives  

– Alarm safety – Multiple IV infusions– Infusion pumps

• Many offerings (free/complimentary)– Webinars– Toolkits– Best practices – Publications

• Today’s event to share research and best practices

Interprofessional Collaboration• Biomedical engineering• Software engineering• Clinical engineering• Medicine• Pharmacy• Academia• Human factors• Medical device companies AND• Nursing

To me, AAMI is….

AnAmazingMix of Individuals