Archives of disease in childhood
-
In the past 10 years, medication errors have come to be recognised as an important cause of iatrogenic disease in hospital patients. ⋯ The overall medication error rate was low. Despite this there are clear opportunities to make system changes to reduce error rates further.
-
Base deficit is a parameter often used to guide further treatment in acidotic children and is taken as a measure of how "sick" they are. Five children with septic shock are presented who had persisting base deficit after large volume resuscitation with 0.9% saline. ⋯ We show how the chloride content of the saline loads given to our patients caused this hyperchloraemia. It is concluded that 0.9% saline and other chloride rich fluids may not be ideal resuscitation fluids; if used, clinicians must be aware of their potential to cause a persistent base deficit.
-
Following the introduction of a policy of early therapeutic filtration for presumed meningococcal septicaemic shock, the overall mortality has decreased.