Hospitals use a wide variety of equipment and medicines to treat patients with an equally wide variety of ailments, injuries, and illnesses. One of the more common pieces of hospital equipment is IV pumps, and different types of medical pumps are out there to suit different needs. Setting up and calibrating an IV pump will require some training, not to mention how to administer the proper amount of a drug or nutrient through such a pump for a patient. Sigma is one such brand that produces different models of IV infusion pumps, among others, and Sigma pump training can allow a medical professional to handle a Sigma pump such as a Sigma spectrum pump or more. Just how big is the medical industry, and how often does it need these pumps? After Sigma pump training is complete, how can a medical professional help others? And what does Sigma pump training entail?

Pumps and Medicine

Medical pumps are common for hospitals, and there are numbers and statistics to show it. Ever since the late 1960s, such pumps have been in use, and they will only grow in popularity in the future; projections show that the global market for infusion pumps may reach over $5 billion by the year 2024. And the Materiel Services department for the University of Michigan Health Systems has data showing that 86% of all patients who are admitted to hospital beds will need the aid of an infusion pump. Smart infusion pumps, meanwhile, are climbing in popularity; a report that the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists released showed that in the year 2013, about 72.9% of all American hospitals were making use of smart infusion pumps, and that is a substantial increase from the 44% rate of usage from 2007. And typically, two main methods of administering an IV exist: manual and electric, with both using different methods to regulate the amount of fluid flowing through an IV. And there are two other ways to divide pumps into two classes: large volume, which deals with administering nutrient needs for a patient, and small volume, which is concerned with hormone or medicine infusions.

Types of Pumps

During Sigma pump training or learning to use other brands of pumps, a medical professional, or even a patient capable of self-care, will learn about the types of pumps and how and why they are used. According to the FDA, some common pump designs include enteral, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), and insulin pumps. Enteral pumps, for example, delivers liquid nutrients and medications into the patient’s digestive tract, while PCA pumps will deliver pain medication, and includes a feature that allows the patient to self-administer a controlled amount of that medication if need be. Finally, insulin pumps will deliver insulin to diabetic patients, and these pumps are commonly used in the patient’s home.

Further, infusion pumps can be either electrically or mechanically powered, and are operated in different ways. In this set of classes, pumps can be labeled as syringe, elastomeric, smart, or multi-channel. Someone undergoing Sigma pump training can learn about these different mechanics for pumps. Syringe, to begin with, is when the fluid is contained in the syringe’s large reservoir and fluid delivery is controlled with a piston. Elastomeric pumps, meanwhile, hold fluid in a stretchable balloon bag, and the balloon’s walls exert pressure to deliver the fluid. Multi-channel pumps are named so because they can administer different fluids from several reservoirs and different rates from each other. And as for smart pumps, as safety features such as user alerts for when a risk exists for adverse drug injection, or whenever the user sets the pump’s setting outside the pre-set safety limits. In this way, overdoses can be prevented.