A Vintage Affair recently donated $35,000 to Williamson Medical Center (WMC) to help with the purchase of advanced IV infusion pumps that are designed to detect and prevent medication errors for WMC’s pediatric patients at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital Vanderbilt at Williamson Medical Center.
“While we focus every day on making patient safety our top priority, many of the medications that are administered through the IV route are considered “high-alert” or more likely to cause harm if an error occurs during administration,” said Brittany Youngblood, R.N., Pediatric Nurse Manager. “The ‘smart pumps’ that we will purchase have technology in place that will help detect and prevent these medication errors from occurring as well as allow us to customize safe infusion delivery to each pediatric patient—from newborns to high-schoolers.”
The new IV infusion pumps will offer multiple safety advantages to the pediatric patients treated at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital Vanderbilt at Williamson Medical Center. Similar to the existing infusion pumps, the new smart pumps will allow for pediatric-specific medication libraries and will also detect non-standard drug concentrations, both of which are features that reduce the likelihood of infusion errors due to confusion with adult safety parameters. The Alaris® system contains Guardrails® software that provides weight-based dose checking for both intermittent medications, such as antibiotics, and for continuous infusion medications, which are often life-saving in nature. The Guardrails software also provides infusion alerts specific to each medication. Many medications must be infused over a certain period of time to ensure that our nurses do not cause harm to the patient by infusing too quickly or provide ineffective treatment by infusing the drug too slowly. Within the Guardrails software, each medication is pre-programmed with the standard medication concentration, appropriate dose for patient weight, and appropriate infusion duration. If any of these parameters is exceeded, the system will alarm the programmer and will not allow infusion of the medication until the error is addressed.
About A Vintage Affair
AVA’s mission is to provide financial contributions to Williamson County nonprofit organizations whose services benefit the women and children’s issues.In order to fulfill the goal of helping out neighbors in need, AVA hosts various events throughout the year which include: wine, spirit & food tastings, A Fashion Affair – a fashion show, and The Grape Stomp Festival.
About Williamson Medical Center
Williamson County Hospital became known as Williamson Medical Center, and the original 144-bed, 155,000-square-foot facility today houses 185 beds in 260,000 square feet. Today, Williamson Medical Center offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services, 24-hour emergency care, preventive health screenings and wellness activities. More than 600 outstanding physicians represent over 60 medical specialties and sub-specialties. In 2015, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital Vanderbilt at Williamson Medical Center opened, adding dedicated pediatric emergent and inpatient care to our offerings. With 12 inpatient and 4 observation beds, WMC is now able to provide focused, specific care to the children of the community as well as their parents.
