EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Gemstar Pump (Abbotts) advice req.

Hi all, bit of advice required. I'm reviewing the Gemstar pump for TPN use. Has anyone have any thoughts good, bad or indifferent on its use. Also, has anyone used it using a syringe driver? it seems that the line holds 7ml so that will be a loss to start with. Any thought ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks
Huw Evans

We have 10 of these pumps which are coming up to 13 months old. Out of these 10, 8 of these have been sent back for repair, some more than once. These could also take up to 4 months to be returned from abbott for repair, but this has improved since being now manufacteured and repaired by Hospira.

No repairs can be done in-house and they won't even sell you a service manual.

The staff don't like them because they are chunky and they complain of them freezing up during set-up.

So I'm not much of a fan really!

We have 14 of these pumps, the majority since 2001. 9 pumps have had 20 faults. The 3 most common faults are:-
1, power supply failure (8/20); usually broken connections at heavier internal components, capable of repair in house.
2, giving set latch mechanism failure
3, false AIL alarms

I am not impressed by them either.

We have 16 of these in service and we have also had issues with AIL, this is still ongoing.
The staff using these pumps have all had user training and are comfortable with them, seem to like them and find them easy to use.
As regards to our checks and tests we have found them to be fairly straightforward to configure and check although you have to watch out for them nasty little micro-bubbles which can so easily be generated if the set isn't purged effectively.

I haven't seen them used as a syringe driver unfortunately, so can't offer any feedback there.

Regards,

Ivor

Our first experience with Gemstars was not good. We put 12 into service around 4 years ago, just after their UK launch. They were withdrawn after a year due to critical incidents both here and in the States.

Unfortunately they returned in force around 18 months ago with updated software and the inclusion of an anti siphon valve on the set. We now have 38, all configured for PCA use only.

During that time I have had to return 4 pumps to Abbott/Hospira, 2 for broken cassette latches, 1 for display problems and 1 for constant air in line alarms.
Although after a rash of similar AIL problems the last was identified as a sets problem. We also saw turn round times around 3 month with Abbott but around 2 weeks with Hospira.

We have had further problems with some pumps refusing to work with sets from certain batches but OK with others. Hospira are investigating this one.

The power supply problems we have had are largely due to abuse and as Abbott used to supply the PSU free of charge its not been a problem. Whether Hospira will do the same we don’t know.

Hospira have told use they will eventually provide a service manual and a training course to allow repairs in house. They have certainly been more helpful with technical advice than Abbott were.

Hope this helps.

We hve 20 for our Pain Clinic on order,so we can
look forward to them coming with joyful
anticipation.
Incidentally Dave,do you live in the Ashby area?

We are in the process of finding a replacement pump for the Abbott APM. If your trust is currently using the Gem star or Cadd prizm pump please let me know how you are getting on with them Thank you