Infusion Therapy
Fluids that sustain life
The field of infusion therapy implies the treatment of a patient with intravenously applied infusion solutions in order to enable a patient’s recovery or improvement of his illness. Depending on the underlying illness, the solution contains an appropriate active pharmaceutical ingredient.
This defines the type of definitive therapy: For example, fluid therapy aims to infuse larger volumes of water and appropriate electrolytes to patients for treatment of volume depletion such as major bleeding, dehydration or shock. Another example might be anti-infective therapy which means the treatment of a patient suffering from an infection with bacteria or funghi by infusing solutions containing antibiotics and antifungals.
Clinical processes in infusion therapy
To apply the correct treatment to the correct patient in the correct time and place and with the correct dose and volume, a number of different steps have to be taken consequently. Often, different responsibilities are involved and special aspects require special attention and action. In order to ensure optimum efficiency and safety during such sequences of actions, it has proven beneficial to take the entire process with all relevant steps into account. With regards to infusion therapy, the process steps are as follows: