Learning Center
Optimizing Patient Safety: Advancing Intravenous Smart Pump Usability in Acute and Critical Care [virtual]
Includes a Live Web Event on 04/13/2026 at 9:15 AM (EDT)
Large-volume intravenous smart pumps (IVSPs) are essential for patient care but present significant usability challenges, including alarm fatigue, complex programming, and non-intuitive interfaces, leading to workarounds and medication errors. This session advocates for a systems-based approach to mitigate these persistent safety risks. It will review the current state of IVSP technology and its impact on nursing workflow, presenting key findings from the presenter's research, including results from a four-device usability comparison involving critical care nurses. Using real-world case studies, the session will illustrate use-related risks and equip nurses—the primary end-users—with a better understanding of available technology and strategies to identify and mitigate patient safety events, reinforcing that safer IVSP use is a critical patient safety mandate.
Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:
- Analyze the scope and history of intravenous smart pump (IVSP) use in United States health care, including current IV medication error rates and the range of available technologies
- Evaluate the critical usability challenges—such as alarm fatigue and complex programming—that contribute to medication administration errors, leveraging data from a national usability comparison study
- Explain the concepts of flow-rate accuracy, including the influence of both intake and outlet pressure, and critique the limitations of manufacturer testing in guiding real-world clinical practice
- Apply evidence-based strategies to mitigate infusion-related risks for patients receiving critical continuous, titratable, and secondary medications, utilizing case study examples
- Develop an advocacy position on what nurses should expect from IVSP vendors and articulate the necessary role of the nurse in driving future technology innovation to enhance patient safety
Contact Hours: 1
CRNI® RUs: 2
Karen Giuliano, PhD, RN
Professor
University of Massachusetts Amherst Institute for Applied Life Sciences
Karen Giuliano, PhD, RN, has over 25 years of experience in critical care nursing, medical product development and innovation, and patient-centered clinical outcomes research. Her primary focus is in general acute and critical care with a special interest in using human-centered design to better understand how clinical needs, medical technology use, product development, and innovation intersect to improve the process of care for clinicians and the experience of care for patients.
Dr Giuliano’s own interdisciplinary program of research is focused in 2 main areas: non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia prevention and improving the safety and usability of IV Smart Pumps. She is currently a Professor at the University of Massachusetts Institute for Applied Life Sciences and the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing and Co-director of the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation.
Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN
Owner
Even Keel Consulting
Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN, is the owner of Even Keel Consulting based in Portland, OR. Her career spans over 40 years of combined clinical and medical device industry experience, currently specializing in infusion safety, best practices, and medical device consulting.
Ms McDaniel’s background includes senior roles in clinical sales, product training, marketing, and business development, supporting health care systems and teams across the United States and the Asia-Pacific region. She has led education and implementation efforts for clinicians and health care organizations at all levels and brings extensive hands-on clinical experience, including pediatric care, oncology, and outpatient infusion services.
Ms McDaniel is thrilled to be working with Karen Giuliano and team to improve infusion safety, with whom she co-authored a paper published in American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ (AACN) journal, Advanced Critical Care: “Optimizing Patient Safety: Intravenous Smart Pump Usability in Acute and Critical Care.” In addition to her consulting work, she is supporting a new ADN nursing program on the Oregon Coast as a part-time Adjunct Instructor.
Key:
Complete
Next
Failed
Available
Locked