Smart infusion technology: a minimum safety standard for intensive care?

There is overwhelming evidence that medication errors present a risk to patients. This risk is highest in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting and even greater when medications are administered via an infusion pump. Standard pumps will not alert for, or prevent, drug calculation, drug unit, button push, or multiple of ten errors when medication delivery data is inputted.

Cardiovascular collapse after amiodarone administration in neonatal supraventicular tachycardia.

Amiodarone is recommended by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation and has been adapted by the Resuscitation Council (UK) and the Advanced Life Support Group for use in paediatric advanced life support and advanced paediatric life support for the treatment of refractory supraventricular tachycardia. The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation has stated that resuscitation guidelines should be evidence based. We present a case report of a cardiovascularly stable infant with supraventricular tachycardia who had a variety of arrthymias requiring cardiopulmonary resucitation for a prolonged period of time after loading with intravenous amiodarone.