Dr Tracy Brown, head of Life Sciences and Healthcare at TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory explores the advances being made to reduce medical error with improved infusion drug delivery.
Infusion
Infusion is the most common form of therapy in a clinical setting, but its widespread use in critical healthcare settings means errors are often made. Whilst the monitoring of a patient’s vital signs can indicate potential dosing errors, they cannot be relied upon as they only indicate the error after it has occurred, and it is too late.
Growing focus on personalised healthcare brings with it a commensurate impetus for greater metrological understanding. Precision medicine is expected to change fundamentally the delivery of medical treatments and is predicated on the idea that different sizes of dose can be delivered accurately. The journey towards therapeutic and prophylactic interventions tailored to individuals that take into account their genetic blueprint, environment and lifestyle is underway. Intrinsically, this will require enhanced measurement capability to ensure the accurate dosing of infusions containing novel complex therapeutics designed to treat niche illnesses.