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Correspondence to Dr Hadeel Hassan; [email protected]
In today’s digital age, it is surprising to see the continued reliance on manual calculations and prescribing in paediatrics, a field that stands to gain significantly from the integration of technology. The research presented in the ‘Smartphone Use for Paediatric Calculations in Emergencies’ (SPaCE) study by Dr Jordan Evans and colleagues sheds light on this issue, suggesting that embracing digital solutions could significantly improve healthcare prescribing safety and efficiency.1
The SPaCE study evaluated emergency calculation methods, including smartphone apps, reference charts and traditional calculations. Its findings align with prior research indicating lower error rates with digital tools compared with conventional methods. Notably, smartphone apps surpassed both traditional and chart-based calculations in accuracy. However, the authors acknowledged potential blinding and measurement biases that could impact the findings. They also noted that the simulation-based nature of the study may affect its reproducibility in real-life settings. Nonetheless, this study still demonstrates the importance of adopting digital solutions for prescribing. This approach could minimise human errors from manual calculations and drug dosing, while also improving efficiencies.
Paediatric prescribing is fraught with challenges, such as the need for precise, individualised dosing, raising the risk of errors like decimal point mistakes and dosage confusion. Traditionally, healthcare professionals have relied on manual or calculator-based methods for these calculations, which can be problematic, especially in high-pressure environments. A systematic review extrapolated that up to 50 000 paediatric dosing errors occur per year in England,2 highlighting the urgent need to reduce dosing errors.
Various digital solutions have emerged with the potential to revolutionise paediatric dosing practices that can reduce prescribing errors. These range from Excel sheet templates with embedded formulas to web applications and smartphone apps, providing portable access...