Developing a biomedical engineering website for clinical users.

It is 2 am in the cardiac step-down unit. A nurse needs to set up a secondary infusion on a new infusion pump, a procedure that she has never done before. She had attended the in-service training session before the pumps arrived the previous month, but there was a great deal of information to absorb. Clinical nurse specialists, who provide assistance with technology-related questions, are not available during the night shift. The nurse decided to ask a fellow staff nurse for assistance. Unfortunately, her co-worker has never programmed a secondary infusion with the new pumps either. She then called the supervisor covering her floor. After responding to a code on another floor, the supervisor finally arrived and walked the nurse through the necessary steps. Staff training and technical support are critical to patient safety. The situation above, fortunately, resulted in nothing more than a slight delay in treatment, but in an emergency situation, any delay could have much more serious consequences. At Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, a staff website specifically dedicated to equipment resources for clinicians has helped to bridge the gap between classroom training and the experience that comes with actual clinical use.