Flushing a Fluid Line From a Medical Pump

• US 20120083760A1
• Filed: 12/21/2010
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smiths Medical ASD, Inc. (Smiths Group International Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Smiths Medical ASD, Inc. (Smiths Group International Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ledford, Ricky L., Choudhary, Sachin Kumar, Patoros, Lori Lynette
• Granted Patent: US 8,876,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/500
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2005/1403 Flushing or purging
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2039/0018 designed for flushing a line, e.g. by a by-pass
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/14 Infusion devices, e.g. infusing by gravity; Blood infusion; Accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/142 Pressure infusion, e.g. using pumps
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/168 Means for controlling media flow to the body or for metering media to the body, e.g. drip meters, counters ; Monitoring media flow to the body flow control in general G05D7/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/1684 by detecting the amount of infusate remaining, e.g. signalling end of infusion

Abstract

A method and medical pump to perform a flushing procedure are provided. The medical pump is configured to execute the flushing procedure subsequent to an infusion procedure, the flushing procedure and infusion procedure lacking a specified relationship between each other until after performance of the infusion procedure. The method comprises performing an infusion procedure of a medicament with the medical pump and automatically querying in human detectable form whether to execute a flushing procedure in response to conclusion of the infusion procedure.

Claims

1. A method of flushing a fluid line with a medical pump configured to execute a flushing procedure subsequent to an infusion procedure, the method comprising:

performing the infusion procedure with the medical pump to expel a medicament into the fluid line; and

automatically querying in human detectable form whether to proceed with a flushing procedure in response to conclusion of the infusion procedure, the flushing procedure lacking a specified relationship with the infusion procedure until after performance of the infusion procedure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the medical pump is a syringe pump and said medicament is contained in a syringe to be expelled therefrom, the method further comprising determining conclusion of the infusion procedure by determining that the syringe is empty.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing the flushing procedure with a flushing fluid to flush the fluid line in response to a determination to proceed with the flushing procedure.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising determining the total volume of medicament expelled during the infusion procedure and flushing fluid expelled during the flushing procedure.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising displaying the total volume.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising separately determining the total volume of flushing fluid expelled during the flushing procedure.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising separately displaying both of the total volumes.

8. The method of claim 3 further comprising stopping the flushing procedure before it is completed.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising automatically querying in human detectable form whether to restart the flushing procedure after it has been stopped.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising restarting the flushing procedure in response to a determination to restart the flushing procedure.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising restarting the flushing procedure with at least one altered setting.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising canceling the flushing procedure.

13. A method of flushing a fluid line with a medical pump configured to execute a flushing procedure subsequent to an infusion procedure, the method comprising:

automatically querying in human detectable form whether to proceed with the flushing procedure in response to conclusion of the infusion procedure, the flushing procedure lacking a specified relationship with the infusion procedure until after performance of the infusion procedure.

14. A method of flushing a fluid line with a medical pump configured to execute a flushing procedure, the method comprising:

performing the flushing procedure with a flushing fluid to flush the fluid line;

stopping the flushing procedure before it is completed.

automatically querying in human detectable form whether to restart the flushing procedure after it has been stopped.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising restarting the flushing procedure in response to a determination to restart the flushing procedure.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising restarting the flushing procedure with at least one altered setting.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising canceling the flushing procedure.

18. A method of tracking volume of medicament infused by a medical pump configured to expel medicament into a fluid line comprising:

determining a volume of medicament expelled into the fluid line during an infusion procedure; and

increasing the volume of medicament expelled by an amount equal to a volume of flushing fluid expelled into the fluid line during a flushing procedure after conclusion of the infusion procedure, whereby to have a total volume of medicament infused by the medical pump.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising displaying the total volume of medicament infused.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising separately determining the total volume of flushing fluid expelled during the flushing procedure.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising separately displaying both the total volume of medicament infused and the total volume of flushing fluid expelled.

22. A medical pump comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

a memory containing program code configured to, when executed by the at least one processing unit, perform an infusion procedure to expel a medicament into a fluid line and automatically query in human detectable form whether to proceed with a flushing procedure in response to conclusion of the infusion procedure, the flushing procedure lacking a specified relationship with the infusion procedure until after performance of the infusion procedure.

23. The medical pump of claim 22, further comprising:

a piston drive adapted to couple to a plunger of a syringe that contains medicament to expel the medicament therefrom, the at least one processing unit operable to control movement of the piston drive, the program code further configured to determine conclusion of the infusion procedure by determining that the syringe is empty.

24. The medical pump of claim 22, the program code further configured to perform the flushing procedure with a flushing fluid to flush the fluid line in response to a determination to proceed with the flushing procedure.

25. The medical pump of claim 24, the program code further configured to determine the total volume of medicament expelled during the infusion procedure and flushing fluid expelled during the flushing procedure.

26. The medical pump of claim 25, the program code further configured to display the total volume.

27. The medical pump of claim 25, the program code further configured to separately determine the total volume of flushing fluid expelled during the flushing procedure.

28. The medical pump of claim 27, the program code further configured to separately display both of the total volumes.

29. The medical pump of claim 24, the program code further configured to stop the flushing procedure before it is completed.

30. The medical pump of claim 29, the program code further configured to automatically query in human detectable form whether to restart the flushing procedure after it has been stopped.

31. The medical pump of claim 30, the program code further configured to restart the flushing procedure in response to a determination to restart the flushing procedure.

32. The medical pump of claim 31, the program code further configured to restart the flushing procedure with at least one altered setting.

33. The medical pump of claim 30, the program code further configured to cancel the flushing procedure.

34. A medical pump comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

a memory containing program code configured to, when executed by the at least one processing unit, automatically query in human detectable form whether to proceed with a flushing procedure in response to conclusion of an infusion procedure, the flushing procedure lacking a specified relationship with the infusion procedure until after performance of the infusion procedure.

35. A medical pump comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

a memory containing program code configured to, when executed by the at least one processing unit, perform a flushing procedure with a flushing fluid to flush the fluid line, stop the flushing procedure before it is completed, and automatically query in human detectable form whether to restart the flushing procedure after it has been stopped.

36. The medical pump of claim 35, the program code further configured to restart the flushing procedure in response to a determination to restart the flushing procedure.

37. The medical pump of claim 36, the program code further configured to restart the flushing procedure with at least one altered setting.

38. The medical pump of claim 35, the program code further configured to cancel the flushing procedure.

39. A medical pump comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

a memory containing program code configured to, when executed by the at least one processing unit, determine a volume of medicament expelled into a fluid line during an infusion procedure and increase the volume of medicament expelled by an amount equal to a volume of flushing fluid expelled into the fluid line during a flushing procedure after conclusion of the infusion procedure, whereby to have a total volume of medicament infused by the medical pump.

40. The medical pump of claim 39, the program code further configured to display the total volume of medicament infused.

41. The medical pump of claim 39, the program code further configured to separately determine the total volume of flushing fluid expelled during the flushing procedure.

42. The medical pump of claim 39, the program code further configured to separately display both the total volume of medicament infused and the total volume of flushing fluid expelled.