A medical instrument group and the country's device watchdog agency are meeting next month to address ways to improve the engineering and manufacture of infusion pumps.

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hope to find ways to improve the safety and design of the pumps. Although critical to delivering medicine to patients in the hospital, the FDA says over the past five years there have received reports of more than 56,000 adverse events associated with the devices.

Expected at the event are executives from top hospitals like Duke University Medical Center, Intermountain Medical Center, Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as FDA officials and representatives from Baxter Healthcare Corporation, an infusion pump manufacturer.

The group will talk about user interface issues, event data reporting, IT integration and the challenges of standardizing drug libraries.

The event, which lasts from Oct. 5-6, will take place at FDA's headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. Registration costs $250 and closes Friday. To register, go here: http://marketplace.aami.org/eseries/source/Meetings/cMeetingFunctionDetail.cfm?section=events&product_major=IDSO10&functionstartdisplayrow=1

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