Baxter Announces Health Canada Approval of Spectrum IQ Infusion System

Baxter Canada recently announced Health Canada approval for the Spectrum IQ Infusion System with Dose IQ Safety Software. The Spectrum IQ system features new bi-directional electronic medical records (EMR) integration to help ensure the correct medications and fluids are delivered to the patient.

The Spectrum IQ system also features unique capabilities to help make auto-programming, protection for high-risk infusions and drug library compliance more consistently achievable for health systems and is the first-of-its-kind to offer the option to display information in both English and French languages.

“The Spectrum IQ system is intelligently designed with exclusive new features to simplify EMR integration for health systems while raising the bar for patient safety and clinician efficiency,” said Stephen Thompson, General Manager and President, Baxter Canada. “We look forward to bringing this leading technology to more patients and healthcare providers across Canada, including being able to offer our Spectrum platform with French language capabilities for the first time.”

The Spectrum IQ system features the broadest range of auto-programming workflows and feature sets and embedded on-screen barcode technology that helps eliminate the need for a sticker barcode and provides clinicians with scan prompts to help maintain or increase auto-programming compliance and automatically document infusion data into the EMR.

The Spectrum IQ pump is also the only infusion pump to feature Line Check Notification technology that supports line management by providing a visual notification matching the infusion pump and medication being infused.

Baxter has also partnered with First Databank (FDB) to incorporate an evidence-based library of IV medications called FDB Infusion Knowledge into Dose IQ safety software to help make infusion delivery safer. Dose IQ software powered by FDB Infusion Knowledge provides a knowledge base of suggested infusion parameters for the Spectrum IQ system such as dose limits, concentrations and durations. FDB is a leading provider of drug and medical device knowledge and supports healthcare professionals in making informed decisions at the point of care, intended to improve the quality of patient care.

The Spectrum IQ pump includes leading features designed to help drive the highest levels of drug library compliance in the industry, such as wireless drug library updates without interrupting clinical workflow and automatically defaulting to the installed drug library without requiring clinicians to take extra steps to use the safety features. Baxter’s Spectrum systems — including the Spectrum IQ system — are the only infusion pumps with a built-in Dose/Rate Change Error Prevention Feature, which helps clinicians protect high-risk infusions during titrations, and helps allow pharmacists to customize dose change limits for individual drugs.

Other key features designed to facilitate increased hospital efficiency include:

-Built-in DeviceVue Asset Tracking Application, which displays pump status and location data on a PC, tablet or smartphone without the need to interface with third-party real-time location systems

-Alarm and alert routing designed to help reduce “alert fatigue” among nursing staff by sending alarm start and stop messages directly from the pump bedside to secondary Alarms Management Systems, including smartphones or work stations

-Enhanced data analytics and near real-time infusion data accessible from a single, centralized screen

-Standard set technology that can help yield up to 53% cost savings in IV tubing sets and up to 30 percent reduction in IV tubing usage

Every day, millions of patients and caregivers rely on Baxter’s leading portfolio of critical care, nutrition, renal, hospital and surgical products. In Canada, we’ve been operating at the critical intersection where innovations that save and sustain lives meet the healthcare providers that make it happen for 80 years. With products, technologies and therapies available in more than 100 countries, Baxter’s employees worldwide are now building upon the company’s rich heritage of medical breakthroughs to advance the next generation of transformative healthcare innovations. Baxter Canada and its nearly 1,000 employees are located primarily in Ontario at the Head Office, CIVA Admixing and Technical Services Centres in Mississauga, and in Alliston – where Baxter operates Canada’s only large scale manufacturing plant producing life-sustaining intravenous and dialysis solutions. To learn more, visit www.baxter.ca and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.