Written by Alberta Guy, RN, BSN, Clinical Consultant, Professional Services
Smart pumps have been widely adopted into the healthcare space, and for a good reason. The potential for improved patient safety, time savings for nurses, and increased revenue should put Smart Pump EHR Integration (SPEHRI) near the top of every hospital’s priority list. But what exactly is SPHERI, and how does it directly impact your nurses on a daily basis?
Smart Pump EHR Integration (SPEHRI) is a bi-directional process, where one direction sends medication order data to the pump (smart pump programming). The other direction captures the IV medication infusion data from the pump gateway (Auto Documentation).
A major benefit of auto-documentation focuses on capturing IV start and stop times for reimbursement purposes. In fact, Lancaster General Hospital’s ability to capture complete documentation generated an additional $2 million per year in IV medication administration fees from third-party payors.
Although revenue capture is always a huge win for the financial department, nurses witness its true impact on their daily routines through the auto-documentation process. We invite you to explore the possibilities of Smart Pump EHR Integration with Accelero Connect® and learn how your nurses can benefit from the following features and benefits.
Capture of rate changes
When the nurse manually changes the rate of a titration medication on the smart pump, the rate change data will flow to Accelero Connect and then into MEDITECH.
Capture of IV intake volume
When the IV is complete or stopped for any number of reasons, the pump gateway will send a cumulative volume for the IV at that time. Using the previous start time for the IV, we send a calculated volume to MEDITECH. This way, the documentation of the IV intake saves the nurse time by not having to perform end-of-shift IV totals.
Unit-based IV intake
This feature is designed for critical care areas that need frequent updates on critical patients or drips. Accelero Connect can be configured to send data on an hourly basis for a specific unit or a global setting for all units.
Status event documentation
The pump vendor may include the capability of allowing automated events to occur on the pump without nurse interaction. One example is when an IV is complete, the pump will switch to a KVO mode to keep the vein open. This start message can be included in the documentation, providing an accurate account of what’s happening with the IV medication. Accelero Connect can also capture and send to the EHR other status events such as a pause, standby or infusion complete.
Critical drip documentation
Accelero Connect includes configuration settings that can capture the documentation of critical drips from other IV medications. This gives the care provider a clear and complete picture of the IV medication intake and assists with making timely medication adjustments according to the information provided.
Above all, patient safety is paramount when administering IVs and saving time by eliminating documentation for the nurse is priceless. Accelero Connect combines more than 25 years of integration experience with patient safety, return on investment and nurse efficiency to create a comprehensive application.
If you’d like to learn more about smart pump integration with Accelero Connect, contact us to schedule your personal demonstration.
