BETHLEHEM, PA – August 8, 2019 – B. Braun Medical Inc. announced that it has been selected by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI)’s peer-reviewed journal BI&T (Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology) for the best research article of 2018.

In their paper, "Frequency and Duration of Infusion Pump Alarms: Establishing National Benchmarks," researchers Mark Dekker, Kevin R. Glover, Catherine Schuster, and Rachel Vitoux established a baseline of infusion pump alarm types and frequencies across 29 hospitals between April 2014 and February 2017¹. The purpose of this study was to establish industry metrics for hospital alarm data, with the goal of reducing alarm burden in the healthcare environment.

“Our team is honored to be recognized by BI&T for our efforts in this benchmark study. B. Braun has created a body of work on pump alarms that has established standards for measurement and valid and reliable reporting; a first for the pump industry!” said Rachel Vitoux, Director, Clinical Consulting & Services.

“The number of medical devices emitting alarms in a hospital setting that require intervention has significantly increased over the past 30 years,” said Wes Cetnarowski, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs at B. Braun. “This study is the first-of-its-kind in understanding the impact infusion pump alarms have on patients and clinicians and whether users and manufacturers can do more to reduce alarm fatigue. The overall clinical impact of our data highlights specific incidences and characteristics of infusion pump alarms which ultimately may help improve patient care,” Cetnarowski continued.

B. Braun was formally recognized and honored at the awards ceremony held at the AAMI Exchange in Cleveland, Ohio on June 8th.

B. Braun offers a full-line of infusion pumps, drug library management, dose error reduction, and interoperability software. The company has a space efficient design which safely integrates with major EMR systems, asset tracking devices, alarm management technologies, and follows the IHE PCD standards in communication and integration. B. Braun’s DoseGuard™ Software is the only drug library development solution available that fully integrates FDB’s Infusion Knowledge Portal². This provides robust evidence-based drug limits with frequent content updates, collaborative authoring tools, and companion audit trails that enable site administrator customization of drug library records for streamlined upload and incorporation into smart pump software. In addition, B. Braun offers DoseTrac^® Drug Library Software that provides real-time data for consistent documentation and recognition of issues that may lead to an adverse event. B. Braun’s automated infusion platform has been shown to demonstrate up to 100%³ drug library compliance* and can reduce IV pump inventory requirements by 33%,⁴ according to a case study performed by Versus Technology, Inc.

About B. Braun 

B. Braun Medical Inc., a leader in infusion therapy and pain management, develops, manufactures, and markets innovative medical products and services to the healthcare industry. Other key product areas include ostomy and wound care, dialysis, nutrition, and pharmacy admixture. The company is committed to eliminating preventable treatment errors and enhancing patient, clinician and environmental safety. B. Braun Medical is headquartered in Bethlehem, Pa., and is part of the B. Braun Group of Companies in the U.S., which includes
B. Braun Interventional Systems, Aesculap^® and CAPS^®.

Globally, the B. Braun Group of Companies employs more than 61,000 employees in 64 countries. Guided by its Sharing Expertise^® philosophy, B. Braun continuously exchanges knowledge with customers, partners and clinicians to address the critical issues of improving care and lowering costs. To learn more about B. Braun Medical, explore our website.

^{1 Vitoux, R., Schuster, C., Glover, K., Dekker, M. Frequency and Duration of Infusion Pump Alarms: Establishing National Benchmarks. AAMI, 2018.}

^{2 Quinlan, Pamela. Director of Strategic Alliance, FDB Infusion Knowledge™ (personal communication, October 3, 2018).}

^{3 Ruhl, C. Get smart with smart pumps. Nursing Management, 44(11), 17-20, 2013.}

^{4 Versus™ Locating Advantages for Healthcare™: Asset Management Case Study: McLaren Flint, 2017.}

^{*Study conducted on B. Braun Outlook® Infusion Pump}