Infusion Pump Data Synchronization for Consistent Therapy Records
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing infusion pump systems lack the ability to efficiently synchronize and ensure data integrity and consistency of therapy-relevant patient data across multiple pumps, making it difficult for patients to switch between pumps without losing or duplicating critical information.
Innovation Solution
An infusion pump system and method that enables synchronization of therapy-relevant patient and system data across a network of pumps through communication interfaces, using methods such as optical, wired, or wireless connections, ensuring data integrity with blocking, verification, and timestamping.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If therapy-relevant patient data is manually entered at each infusion pump individually, then data integrity at each device is maintained, but data consistency across the network and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the data entry function across multiple infusion pumps into a single centralized entry point. When patient data is entered at one pump, it is automatically transmitted to all other pumps in the network, eliminating redundant manual entry at each device while maintaining data integrity through the networked synchronization system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates digital copies of patient data across the network. Once data is entered at one infusion pump, identical copies are automatically generated and transmitted to all other pumps, ensuring data consistency without requiring manual replication at each device.
2Reliability
If patient data is synchronized across all infusion pumps in the network, then data consistency is improved, but the risk of data conflicts and integrity issues increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary actions to prevent data conflicts before they occur. A locking mechanism is activated during data entry at one pump, temporarily blocking data entry at other pumps in the network. This sequential access control prevents simultaneous modifications that could cause data conflicts, while still enabling automatic synchronization after the entry is complete.
3Measurement precision
If manual data entry is required at each infusion pump, then data accuracy can be verified locally, but productivity and ease of operation decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the data entry function into a single location while maintaining verification capabilities across the network. Data is entered once at one pump with local verification, then automatically copied to all other pumps, achieving both efficiency through reduced entry operations and accuracy through distributed verification of the synchronized data.
4Productivity
If therapy data is synchronized in real-time across the network, then therapy efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a communication network as an intermediary between infusion pumps to enable real-time data synchronization. This intermediary infrastructure handles the complexity of data transmission and coordination, allowing individual pumps to maintain relatively simple designs while still achieving efficient real-time synchronization across the entire system.
Data Source
AI summary
An infusion pump system has a plurality of infusion pumps assigned to a network. Each infusion pump has an input unit for entering therapy-relevant patient data and/or system data, and a communication interface for communication with other infusion pumps in the network. A method of operating the infusion pump system includes the steps of entering therapy-relevant patient data and/or system data on one of the infusion pumps, and automatically transmitting that therapy-relevant patient data and/or system data to all of the other infusion pumps in the network to synchronize the therapy-relevant patient data and/or system data in the network.