What Is The Difference Between Syringe Pump And Infusion Pump? Have you heard about syringe and infusion pumps, and wondered what the difference is between them? Have you, at any time, racked your head to figure if the difference is in their uses, sizes, or prices? Well, worry no more. Here is your unique chance to learn the nuances of both the syringe pump and the infusion pump. Enjoy it!
What is a Syringe Pump?
A syringe pump, also called syringe drive, is a small infusion pump used to deliver small amounts of fluid to a patient gradually. Syringe pumps can perform dual functions – for infusion and withdrawal of fluids. Syringe pumps are designed to administer medications at a predetermined rate and speed.
What is an Infusion Pump?
An infusion pump, also called the capacity pump, doesn’t serve any more purpose than the syringe pump. The infusion pump is used to deliver fluids in either large or small amounts. Based on its medical modification, mobility and volume are the two defining categories of infusion pumps. An example is the Veterinary Infusion Pump.
Apparently, both Syringe and Infusion pumps are medically acceptable. In other words, they meet all medical regulations. However, as you may have seen in the definitions above that, infusion pumps can administer larger volumes of fluids than syringe pumps. This and more will be our focus as we look at the dominant differences between these two types of pumps.
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High-Risk Use
Infusion pumps come in handier, in high-risk cases, often to prevent injury or death from air bubbles. Syringe pumps are not the likely option, given that small air bubbles can cause significant variability during clinical use.
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Accuracy
Even though syringe pumps are supplements of infusion pumps, they are so because they offer more accuracy than typical volumetric infusion pumps when administering fluids in small doses. In turn, they’re also faster to use.
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Capacity Difference
This is perhaps the most noticeable feature at first glance. Infusion pumps have a more extensive range of flow, less liquid type restriction, less irritation, etc. as a result of their larger sizes. Syringe pumps are considerably smaller in size with a maximum of 50ml compared to the infusion pump’s minimum of 1000ml.
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Alarms
Needle-to-needle alarms found in infusion pumps, serve as a controller for fluids. It also alerts users when it has been programmed to deliver duplicate infusions or continuous-infusion doses outside hospital-defined ranges. This is an advantage lacking in Syringe pumps.
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Digital Configuration
Infusion pumps have more technology tweaks, which have come under check in recent times by the FDA. Yet, the tweaked software has helped to automate fluid dosage. Infusion pumps can be called a smart device, but the same cannot be said of the syringe pump. This technological advantage also stretches into research by taking infusion records of patients.
In conclusion, these two dominant types of pumps can be well-called sisters. Although their selection for medical use must be without bias, the Syringe pumps are the most common for cardiovascular and anaesthesia departments. For bigger departments or hospitals, the use of infusion pumps can be well managed.
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