EBME Forums Forums Management Equipment Libraries Infusion Pump / Bed ratio

... no, most almost always use a pump these days!

Hi Geoff - do you know where these ratio's originated from? What is the evidence to guide the ratio's and where can I find it? many thanks

Welcome to the forum, noosti.


Just a figure based upon my own observations of hospital inventories and BofQ's (Bills of Quantity) of new hospital designs that I've been involved with, I'm afraid. We didn't have the world wide web available to us in those days, and had to use our own imagination and what you could call "first principles" to come up with some sort of figure.

That is, nothing scientific, just "empirical" (anecdotal) evidence.

No doubt anyone could come up with a ratio based upon reasoned argument, given an hour or two (ten). Either that or survey a number of existing hospitals. Another method (which I may have invented) is to start with an unlikely high figure (like, one pump per hospital bed), and work downwards to an unlikely low one (ten beds per pump, or 0.1 pumps per bed) ... then simply "split the difference". Resulting (in this case) at 0.5 pumps per bed. Probably about right (in the UK), I would have thought. Don't forget to let us know how you get on!

Another way to do it, and to try and "individualise" the ratio for your facility, is to take a snapshot survey of the pumps in use at any one time on the general wards and then divide that number by the total number of occupied beds.

Thanks for the suggestions - does anyone know of some published research to back these ratio's for my business case? I tried the ratios out and it seems that we are not too far off the mark!!