May 29, 2008 - ECRI Institute issued a priority medical device alert on its Web site recommending immediate volume testing of Curlin Medical’s 2000 CMS, 4000 CMS, 6000 CMS and PainSmart series pumps for potential overinfusion of medications.
The pumps are used in hospitals and home healthcare settings.
Engineers at ECRI Institute’s medical device laboratory tested Curlin pumps and found that doors on the pumps do not fully compress tubing during operation, which may result in intermittent gravity flow, releasing medication too quickly. ECRI Institute emphasizes that there may be no visible indication that a pump permits gravity flow and that volume testing is the only way to determine whether a particular pump has a door problem.
For more information: www.ecri.org