TPN : Total Parenteral Nutrition - Yenra

Windows browser-based TPN System with barcoding for accelerated delivery and improved safety

TPN : Total Parenteral Nutrition

B. Braun announced today that its new total parenteral nutrition (TPN) Management System, named Pinnacle will be introduced into hospital systems with a number of vital service "innovations" including Windows-based and Trissel's Ca/P Check Safety Software. The Pinnacle TPN Management System will help pharmacists improve efficiency in the TPN management of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed medications by accelerating delivery and improving safety with barcoding technology. Like its name, Pinnacle is expected to set a new standard in health-system safety, efficiency, and user flexibility.

A full system, not solely a device, the Pinnacle TPN Management System can streamline the TPN process from computerized physician order entry and pharmacist approval, to IV solution compounding and bar-coded TPN containers that work with barcode compatible infusion devices, such as the B. Braun Outlook Safety Infusion System. The new TPN management system is flexible and can work in several configurations, from single-user to multiple compounder and from network to Internet. Interfaces are also available to existing software systems.

The Pinnacle TPN Management System automates all TPN calculations in a Windows-based, browser format, including nutritional assessment, aluminum calculations/warnings, and calcium/phosphate (Ca/P) check. To provide these health safety innovations, B. Braun worked closely with national drug compatibility expert Lawrence Trissel, R.Ph., in order to incorporate his Ca/P Check safety software into Pinnacle.

"The patient safety information software was designed to protect patients from inadvertent calcium precipitation into parenteral nutrition solutions," said Lawrence Trissel, R.Ph., MD Anderson, Houston, TX. "The program provides health professionals with a convenient and reliable method to access concise and readily understood data," he added.

"TPN management is very complex and requires numerous calculations, preparation, and time. Collaboration with Lawrence Trissel ensures B. Braun customers a new standard in quick access vital patient-care information and research results," stated Michael Golebiowski, Product Manager, B. Braun Medical. "The Pinnacle compounder's user-friendly and safety-focused benefits were designed with customers' needs in mind - the system makes compounding more efficient and flexible."

The Pinnacle compounder provides a Windows-based user format along with a flat screen control panel with touch-screen and drop-down menus. Additionally, the Pinnacle compounder makes the process easier and faster, preparing one liter of TPN formulation in less than one minute. Pinnacle, which made its "roll-out" debut earlier in March at the National Home Infusion Association Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, is scheduled for a full-market launch later this year.

The Pinnacle gravimetric system delivers solution by weight, and therefore, does not require priming of the set. The system also eliminates the need to program specific gravity and viscosity factors. In line with recently published FDA Barcoding Final Rule, the system incorporates barcoding technology to reduce medication errors and utilize bar coded patient prescriptions, source containers, and final containers, while tracking lot numbers and expiration dates.

B. Braun delivers innovative healthcare products, medical devices and programs that enhance both patient and health-professional safety.