RESUMO
The proliferation of high-technology infusion devices has greatly influenced the practice of anesthesia by allowing precise delivery intraoperatively and postoperatively of intravenous anesthetics, analgesics, and vasopressors. During continuous drug administration to pediatric patients, unfavorable pharmacologic effects have occured. These effects were attributed to variations in flow from infusion devices. The intent of this investigation was to evaluate the influence of infusion devices on the accuracy and continuity effused fluid. Hartmann's solution was run through eight infusion pump at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 60, 80 and 100ml/hr. The volume of the fluid was measured for one hour at each flow rate using a infusion device analyzer(IDA-2) in vitro. Flow accuracy(ml/hr) was calculated by dividing the effused volume by the effusion time ; this value was subsequently expressed as a percentage of the desired flow rate. Flow continuity was expressed by the coefficient of variance(CV); analysis of variance with SAS was used for comparisons. Results were as follows ; 1) The flow accuracy values ranged from 98.8% to 114.2% of the desired rate. 2) Seven infusion pumps had flow rates within 5% of the desired rates at each flow rate but one pump had more than 10% of desired rate. 3) Each of the respective infusion pumps produced various levels of flow continuity and ranged from 0.7% to 2.5%(CV value). Conclusion , further evaluations are needed to differentiate continuity from other infusion devices(e.g., syringe infusion pump) in vitro and evaluations are needed to define the clinical significance in vivo. Future use of flow-rate data will likely be of significant value in establishing policies and procedures for the utilization of infusion devices and guidelines for product selection.