CareFusion, Cerner Implement Integrated Solution to Improve Patient Safety, Streamline IV Medication Mgmt

CareFusion Corp.

, a leading, global medical technology company, today announced the implementation of a solution that connects its Alaris^® System smart infusion pumps with the Cerner Millennium^®1 electronic health record (EHR) at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. The technology is designed to help reduce the risk of harmful and costly intravenous (IV) medication programming errors at the patient bedside. Intravenous (IV) medication errors are twice as likely to cause harm to patients as medications delivered via other routes of administration.^2 With this new interoperability, through the Cerner CareAware iBus^™1, the Alaris system can be wirelessly pre-populated with infusion order parameters directly from the Cerner Millennium EHR. Instead of manually programming the pump using the keypad at the bedside, the pump is programmed through scanning a barcode on the smart pump via Cerner's Point of Care Medication Administration solution. Programming pumps with infusion parameters from the verified physician order helps ensure accurate medication administration and documentation and reduces opportunities for human error. This solution covers IV medication administered through both the pump and syringe modules of the Alaris System. Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is the first pediatric hospital system in the U.S. to enable bi-directional communication between the infusion pump and the EHR for both syringe pumps and large volume infusions.