New infusion pumps line a hallway in the Shapiro Center in 2019

The Brigham was the first hospital within Mass General Brigham to transition to the Baxter Spectrum IQ pump in 2019 as part of a systemwide initiative to integrate the electronic health record with a large volume smart infusion pump.

This required interprofessional teams across the Brigham to replace approximately 3,800 large-volume infusion pumps on the main campus and off sites with the Baxter model.

Anne Bane, MSN, RN, BC, nursing director, Informatics and Medication Safety, co-led the conversion with Biomedical Engineering and Pharmacy leaders. The interprofessional team also included IS, Anesthesiology, Central Transport and Materials Management.

In preparation, Bane engaged clinical nurses from the divisional committees to complete the nursing validation of the pharmacy’s drug library.

During the May 2019 go-live of the Baxter pumps, nurse super users and professional development managers provided continuous support to clinical nurses using the pumps.

When programming an infusion on the pump, nurses are now directed to the Baxter drug library, a safety feature which has improved compliance. The library has enhanced patient safety with dosing guardrails, including hard and soft limits, for about 1,100 intravenous medications.

In recognition of these efforts, the Baxter Pump Implementation Team received a Partners in Excellence Award (now called the Pillar of Excellence Award) for optimizing collaboration in 2020.

Why it’s Magnet: Magnet designation requires one example of the organization’s recognition of an interprofessional group inclusive of nursing for their contributions in influencing the clinical care of patients as part of the Structural Empowerment component (SE13). This is one example demonstrating the collaboration of interprofessional teams and meaningful recognition. It’s who we are.