Veterinarians use to provide state-of-the-art care to thousands of pets annually. These machines save lives, but pet families rarely ever have the opportunity to see them up close and personal. This series will give readers a glimpse into the equipment. The machine for today is an infusion pump, sometimes called a fluid pump.
Not Just for Fluid Infusion pumps, fluid pumps, and IV pumps are commonly used terms to describe a device that delivers a precise volume of liquid over an exact period. The pump can be used to administer a wide variety of liquids, including intravenous fluids, antibiotics, or pain medications. Shoes are also used to deliver liquid feeding solutions into the stomach or intestine and for blood transfusions. Pumps free the nursing staff from monitoring fluid delivery rates for more important duties. If the infusion rate varies from the setting, the pump beeps to alert the nursing staff of a problem.
Table of Contents
How They Work
Veterinary Infusion Pump has two types of pumps: peristaltic and syringe pumps. In the peristaltic pump, the tubing for the fluid fits between rollers which compress the pipe as they roll. This rolling action forces the liquid through the tubing. Peristaltic pumps are commonly used for IV fluids. AMC also uses syringe pumps. A syringe loaded with medication is placed in a slot on the pump, and a motorized screw turns to push the syringe plunger at a controlled rate to deliver the fluid. Syringe pumps are commonly used for minimal patients or very small volume infusions. Above, you can see a puppy receiving a blood transfusion via a syringe pump.
A Machine Of Major Importance
Infusion pumps don’t impress like a CT scanner or linear accelerator. Infusion pumps are one of the most valuable medical machines.
Control And Security Functions
In Infusion Systems
At present, most infusion systems have the following functions:
The Total Volume To Be Infused
Veterinary Infusion Pump allows the user to select the volume to be infused (VTBI). If this limit is reached before the liquid source ends, most of the pumps trigger an alarm and continue to infuse liquid into a form of minimal infusion known by its acronym in English as KVO (keep vein open), to prevent the patient’s intravenous or intra-arterial cannula from being clogged by thrombi.
Alarms Drip alarm It is actuated in case the drip chamber registers increase or decrease in the programmed flow rate, or a medication speed has been introduced during programming, which may result in a delivery profile that is too low for that medicine.
Battery alarm. In infusion systems that have their rechargeable power source when connected to the power source, this device is activated when the power reserve is close to a critical level of operation, later to which the pump devices are inaccurate or not functional.
Standby alarm. It is also called a reminder alarm. It works with a time device that triggers an audible alarm when the infusion is temporarily suspended.
Volume alarm Used in most infusion pumps utilizing audible and visible devices. It is activated when the infusion of the volume selected by the user is completed. Start infusion in KVO mode
Occlusion Alarm.
Many infusion devices contain self-diagnostic programs to facilitate the start of an infusion and to alert the user of existing problems or impediments.
The microprocessor of some units contains messages that alert of problems in the internal components or circuits. While this type of technology has increased the self-monitoring and infusion monitoring capabilities of the devices, the pumping mechanisms remain the same.