Cool Technology for Pharmacy – Baxa Repeater Pump

The Baxa Repeater Pump is a pretty cool piece of pharmacy technology. The device automates many of the repetitive processes used in filling oral syringes, oral dosage cups, syringes used for injection and reconstituting medications used to mix intravenous medications in the acute care setting. I remember working in a pediatric facility and watching the technicians fill thousands of oral syringes with liquid acetaminophen and ibuprofen for use in automated dispensing cabinets throughout the hospital. With the use of the Syringe Filling Fixture, and the automated pump setting on the Repeater Pump, the technicians could fill a phenomenal number of syringes in a very short period of time. Other times the technicians used the foot pedal on the Repeater Pump in order to control the rate at which the process moved; art in motion. Either way it was a bummer when they were finished as I had to check all those syringes. Regardless, the pump was a valuable piece of equipment when repetitive fluid transfer was required.

Information on the Baxa website is lacking to be sure, but they do list the following:

The Repeater Pump is the first step to automating your pharmacy. It features motor strength and programming to pump even viscous fluids easily. With a delivery range from 0.2 mL to 9.9 L, The Repeater Pump is the market leader for pharmacy fluid transfer applications. Includes power cord, foot pedal and Technical Manual. One-year warranty.

Specifications:

Volume Entry Range: 0.01 to 9,999 mL
Water Flow Rate Maximum: 13.5 mL/second(16G needle)
Accuracy: ± 10% at 0.2 mL
Accuracy: ± 5% at 0.4 mL
Accuracy: ± 2% at 1 mL
Accuracy: ± 1% at 2 mL
Minimum Dispensing Volume: 0.2 mL

More information can be found here (PDF).

Baxa offers a nice set of videos for demonstration here. Unfortunately there was no option to embed them in this post.