General-purpose infusion pumps.

In this issue, we are publishing our fourth evaluation of general-purpose infusion pumps. Although the basic technology is stable, we evaluated the performance of the new models on the market because many offer new features and hospitals rely on these devices for an increasing variety of IV therapies. The many consultation calls we receive from member hospitals are about the benefits and deficiencies of a given pump, as well as its reliability and ease of servicing. We evaluated 14 general-purpose infusion pumps from 9 manufacturers. The pumps differed significantly in performance, features, and cost. Areas of concern are infusion sets that allow free flow if not manually clamped on removal and detection of upstream occlusions. Most of the units are rated Conditionally Acceptable on the condition that users accept the responsibility of preventing free flow.