Prioritizing Patient Safety: Analysis of the Procurement Process of Infusion Pumps in Spain

Laura Herrero, Blanca Sánchez-Santiago, Marina Cano, Ramon Sancibrian, Raj Ratwani and Galo Peralta ()
Additional contact information
Laura Herrero: Innovation Support Unit, Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, 39011 Santander, Spain
Blanca Sánchez-Santiago: Clinical Pharmacology Service, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, 39008 Santander, Spain
Marina Cano: Innovation Support Unit, Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, 39011 Santander, Spain
Ramon Sancibrian: Department of Structural and Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain
Raj Ratwani: MedStar Health Research Institute, Washington, DC 20010, USA
Galo Peralta: Innovation Support Unit, Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, 39011 Santander, Spain

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 24, 1-10

Abstract: To understand whether patient safety and human factors are considered in healthcare technology procurement, we analyzed the case of infusion pumps as their use critically affects patient safety. We reviewed infusion pump procurements in the Spanish Public Sector Procurement Database. Sixty-three batches in 29 tenders for supplying 12.224 volumetric and syringe infusion pumps and consumables for an overall budget of EUR 30.4 M were identified and reviewed. Concepts related to “ease of use” were identified in the selection requirements of 35 (55.6%) batches, as part of the criteria for the selection of pumps in 23 (36.5%) batches, related to “intuitiveness” in the selection requirements of 35 (55.6%) batches, and in the criteria in 10 (15.9%) batches. No method to evaluate the ease of use, intuitiveness, or usability was mentioned. A review of the procurement teams responsible for the evaluation of the tenders showed no reported human factors or patient safety expertise. We conclude that infusion pump procurement considers usability as a relevant criterion for selection. However, no human factor experts nor specific methods for evaluation of the technology in this field are usually defined. Potential room for refining the selection of healthcare technology to improve patient safety is detected.

Keywords: procurement; patient safety; usability; infusion pumps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/24/7179/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/24/7179/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:24:p:7179-:d:1300443

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().