IMPROVING THE SAFETY OF INFUSION THERAPY IN INPATIENT AND INTENSIVE CARE SETTINGS BASED ON AN AUTOMATED MONITORING SYSTEM AND PREVENTING IATROGENIC COMPLICATIONS

Infusion therapy is one of the most common interventions in hospital care and, at the same time, a leading source of medication-related iatrogenic harm. This review synthesises recent (2021–2026) evidence on the burden of intravenous medication errors and infusion-related complications, on the systemic and human factors that drive them, and on the technological defences currently available. Contemporary systematic reviews indicate a high and highly variable prevalence of intravenous administration errors, a concentration of errors and harm at the administration stage, and a strong dependence of safety on nursing workload, fatigue and interruptions. Existing engineered defences — smart infusion pumps with dose-error-reduction software and, increasingly, interoperable systems — improve the accuracy of dose and rate but do not directly monitor the physical progress of an infusion or manage the hazardous state that arises when a container empties and flow ceases. Against this background, the article presents the rationale for, and the design of, a low-cost optical-sensor system (SMART DROP) that continuously monitors infusion flow and automatically arrests the line when flow stops, thereby preventing reflux, occlusion and delivery interruption and, in high-risk settings, air entry. The system is positioned as a complement to existing safeguards, and its clinical value is framed as a set of hypotheses to be tested in a structured technical and clinical validation programme. The review argues that closing this specific safety gap, with technology adapted to local and resource-constrained conditions, is a realistic and high-value contribution to infusion safety.