A new medical technology in administering intravenous drugs will soon be introduced in Ghanaian hospitals.

The technology according to nurses, doctors and other medical officers will bring relief to caregivers as well as patients.  

This was after the equipment was introduced at a training workshop at the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association Centre on Thursday.

Becton Dickinson (BD), the manufacturers of the new equipment, in partnership with the Health Ministry and Ghana Health Service is organizing series of product presentations and training workshops for all regional, key specialist and private hospitals in Ghana.

This forms part of efforts to work in close collaboration with all key stakeholders in the healthcare delivery system to keep them abreast with the latest technology in their respective fields.

The New Jersey-based company which will undertake similar workshop in Kumasi and Tamale is working with the Ministry to provide the technology to improve healthcare safety and clinical efficiency.

Jan Henning Austnes, who works with the Medication Management Solutions department of BD said the company is concerned with advancing a healthy world by ensuring a complete IV solution for the safe delivery of drugs.

“We see a lot of medication errors and part of the solution is through administration through IV infusion pumps that can be programmed with standardised drug protocols with safety limits.

“Forty percent of mistakes are actually in the administration of drugs, only two percent are intercepted. That is why it is important to use technology to improve safety,” he said.

He believes in doing this, the interest of both the caregiver and patient must be sought which makes new technology important.

A nurse at the Radiotherapy Center, Faakyewa Awuku, told Joy News the training has been an eye-opener for her.

“It was revealing how cytotoxic drugs can be administered to ensure that both patients and medical staff are safe. As staff, we will be protected from the aerosols that we come into contact with during treatment.

“Getting this equipment in our facilities is going to improve our work efficiency,” she added.

She is hopeful the technology will quickly be adopted so Ghanaian hospitals can match with how care is administered to patients in developed countries.

For his part, Godfred Adjei, a pharmacist with the Oncology unit of the Radiotherapy Center of the Korle-Bu Hospital, it would help medical staff who handle Chemotherapeutic drugs.

He said since these drugs used in managing or treating cancer can be hazardous if they are not well handled, he is, therefore, elated the new technology will make his work easy and more efficient.

Some participants examining some of the equipment

“If we are able to secure these smart diffusion technology, it will make us more confident to go about our duty as everyone will be safe.

Dr James Ofei, an anaesthetist, said using the intravenous to induce and maintain patient’s health after anaesthesia is much safer than using inhalational drugs.

“Normally we have to use our own clinical acumen to calculate the medication but with this new technology, there has been researching and the device can show how much of the drug is needed.

“It is about to do that after getting to know the gender, weight, age and other details. It gives an objective diagnosis of getting the patient to sleep.

He said he would be happy and feel safe knowing that his patient is well asleep and not that “he will wake up later in the day and say he was aware of happening around him.”

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