• J Clin Anesth · Jun 2014

    Observational Study

    Anesthesiologists' ability in calculating weight-based concentrations for pediatric drug infusions: an observational study.

    • Alexander Avidan, Phillip D Levin, Charles Weissman, and Yaacov Gozal.
    • Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Hadassah - Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem 91120, Israel. Electronic address: alex@avidan.co.il.
    • J Clin Anesth. 2014 Jun 1;26(4):276-80.

    Study ObjectivesTo assess the ability of anesthesiologists to calculate weight-specific drug concentrations for continuous drug administration in children, and to evaluate the acceptance of an inhouse-developed, computer-based application for calculating drug infusions for pediatric cardiac surgery.DesignObservational study.SettingAnesthesiology department of a tertiary-care medical center in Israel.Participants45 anesthesiology department staff members (attendings and residents).MeasurementsAnesthesiologists were asked to calculate the weight-based amount of drug and the corresponding amount in mL to be drawn from a standard vial and added to a 50-mL syringe in order to reach an infusion rate, where 1 mL/hr corresponds to 1 μg x kg(-1) x min(-1). The time it took to reach the result was measured. Staff members were also asked to rate the user-friendliness and usability of the program.Main Results41 of the original 42 participants returned the completed questionnaire. Only 6 (15%) of 41 anesthesiologists provided all the correct answers. The mean calculation time required was 205 (±53) seconds. There was no difference in success rate between attendings and residents. Incorrect calculations ranged from a drug concentration 50 times too low up to 56 times too high. Most staff members believed that the computer-based application to perform these calculations reduced errors (65%) and workload (81%), and improved patient treatment (71%). This application was rated as very user-friendly.ConclusionsAnesthesiologists have difficulty calculating pediatric drug concentrations for continuous drug infusions. The correct calculations are time-consuming. Incorrect calculations may lead to dangerously high or low doses. A computer-based application to calculate drug concentrations was rated as very useful and user-friendly.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…