Pump Up Your Knowledge: IV Smart Pumps and the Vital Role of the Pharmacist
ACPE Number:0204-0000-25-421-H05-P Content Release Date: February 26, 2026 Expiration Date: February 26, 2027 Activity Type: Application-based CE Credits: 1.5 contact hours (0.15 CEUs) Activity Fee: Free
Activity Overview
Large-volume intravenous smart pumps (IVSPs) are a standard of care in most healthcare systems for the delivery of life-saving medications and fluids. IVSPs allow for a greater amount of control, accuracy, and precision with medication delivery and can provide clinical decision support for programmed doses to help recognize errors prior to the start of the infusion. This has significantly improved the safety of intravenous medication administration and improved workflow and workloads. Technology has improved the safety of infusion administration; however, many adverse events still occur. This can be due to high variability in infusion practices amongst healthcare providers, healthcare organizations not using the IVSP functionality to its full potential, and human errors such as errors in IVSP programming. Pharmacists are often called upon to lead IVSP efforts. This educational activity will discuss the role of the pharmacist with IVSPs including best practices, preventing and responding to errors, understanding the nuances between different pumps, responding to alerts and alarms, and opportunities to improve workflow, efficiency, and patient safety.
*Please note, this activity was presented live on December 8, 2025 as part of the ASHP 2025 Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition. You can only claim credit once for this activity; live or home study.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education with Commendation.
This activity was planned to meet the educational needs of front-line clinical pharmacists, pharmacists in leadership positions including pharmacy executives, managers, and supervisors, and those in product procurement roles who can identify specific opportunities for smart infusion pumps.
Daniel D. Degnan, PharmD, MS, CPPS, FASHP Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Academic Success Coach Purdue University College of Pharmacy West Lafayette, Indiana
Daniel D. Degnan, PharmD, MS, CPPS, FASHP is Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy and Academic Success Coach at Purdue University College of Pharmacy. At Purdue, he teaches professional pharmacy students in the areas of patient safety and informatics, health policy, and leadership. Dr. Degnan is an associate faculty member at the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering at Purdue where he contributes his expertise to researchers in the areas of medication safety technology, patient safety culture, pharmacy operations, and high reliability healthcare.
Stephen F. Eckel, PharmD, MHA Associate Professor, Associate Dean UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Stephen F. Eckel, PharmD, MHA, is Associate Dean for Global Engagement at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He is also an associate professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education (PACE). In addition, he is director of the two-year Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a specialization in health-system pharmacy administration. This degree is hosted at 23 sites across 12 states. At UNC Medical Center, he is residency program director of the 2-year program in health-system pharmacy administration. He has worked with almost 250 residents over the years.
As an innovator and entrepreneur, Dr. Eckel co-founded ChemoGLO, LLC with Bill Zamboni, PharmD, PhD. He also founded Nuvai Medical Technologies Inc, which is developing the Precynge medical device and Aseptique, a machine learning evaluation of aseptic technique. He is a passionate supporter of the role of the pharmacist and the use of technology in patient care. He conducts and publishes his research and is frequently asked to speak on these issues.
Dr. Eckel has been very active in the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists (NCAP), serving in the past as president. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. In 2023, NCAP named him the Health-System Pharmacist of the Year.
Karen K. Giuliano, PhD, RN, MBA, FAAN Professor – UMass Amherst Nurse Scientist – Baystate Health Amherst, Massachusetts
Karen K. Giuliano, PhD, RN, MBA, FAAN, is Professor and Co-Director of the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation at UMass Amherst in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on two key areas: preventing non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NVHAP) and improving the safety and usability of intravenous smart infusion pumps. Dr. Giuliano is a nurse scientist and innovator with over 25 years of experience spanning critical care nursing, medical product development, and patient-centered outcomes research. Her work integrates clinical expertise with human-centered design and interdisciplinary collaboration to advance safer, more effective, and compassionate care.
Jeffery S. Vender, MD, MCCM, MBA is the Emeritus, Harris Family Foundation Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at NorthShore University Health System in Evanston, Illinois and a Clinical Professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School Of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He is a past member of the NorthShore University Health System Faculty Practice Associates Board of Directors, Past Chair of the Medical Executive Committee for the Professional Staff at NorthShore and previously served on Northshore’s Board of Directors. Dr. Vender served as Chair of Anesthesia from 1990-2015 and received an appointment of adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University. He served as the Director of the Critical Care Services at Evanston Hospital from 1987-2000 and the Interim Chairman at Northwestern University Department of Anesthesiology from July 1999 until October 2000. Dr. Vender has participated and Chaired numerous state and national committees of various medical organizations, edited several medical texts, has published over 135 articles and book chapters and has been an invited lecturer at over 250 national and international meetings on topics of anesthesiology, critical care, organizational change, and leadership. In addition, Dr. Vender serves as an editor and/or reviewer for many medical journals.
In accordance with our accreditor’s Standards of Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, ASHP requires that all individuals in control of content disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies. An individual has a relevant financial relationship if they have had a financial relationship with an ineligible company in any dollar amount in the past 24 months and the educational content that the individual controls is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
An ineligible company is any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients. The presence or absence of relevant financial relationships will be disclosed to the activity audience.
The following persons in control of this activity’s content have relevant financial relationships:
Stephen F. Eckel: BD – Consultant; Baxter – Consultant
All other persons in control of content do not have any relevant financial relationships with an ineligible company. As defined by the Standards of Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education definition of ineligible company. All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated prior to the CE activity.
To receive CE credit, complete the steps below within 60 days of completing the activity.
View the entire presentation and answer all polling questions.
Click "Complete Activity" on last slide then complete the evaluation to claim credit.
Verify credits were successfully transferred to CPE Monitor before the ACPE 60-day deadline by checking your NABP eProfile account.
Important Note – ACPE 60 Day Deadline Per ACPE requirements, CPE credit must be claimed within 60 days of being earned – no exceptions! To verify that you have completed the required steps and to ensure your credits have been reported to CPE Monitor, we encourage you to check your NABP eProfile account to validate your credits were transferred successfully before the ACPE 60-day deadline. After the 60 day deadline, ASHP will no longer be able to award credit for this activity.
Provided by ASHP.
Supported by an educational grant from Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC.
