The infusion pump is a ubiquitous piece of hospital equipment, often at a 3:1 ratio to the number of beds.  While they are essential, pumps have been a persistent source of safety problems.  The FDA typically receives around 10,000 complaints about pumps per year; recalls for safety happen regularly; and some patients die because of pump related failures/errors.  The FDA is now paying much closer attention to pump design (particularly the operating software) and engineering, which suggests this could be a fruitful area for innovation-e.g.  fail-safe alarms, user interfaces that aren’t confusing, better batteries, and electrical fire prevention.   MORE