April 2007

Research Monitor

By Joene Hendry, Contributing Writer

Use of a device known as a code card, listing typical calculations for drug doses/volumes and the formula for calculating proper endotracheal tube (ETT) size for pediatric patients, lessened error rates and calculation time, researchers reported. Among 94 prehospital providers using the card in a simulated setting, clinically significant and total error rates were 3.6 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, while comparable error rates were 14.5 percent and 25.4 percent, respectively, among 89 participants not using a card. Card users completed calculations in a mean of 6.63 minutes compared with 12.67 minutes for nonusers. Card users also made error-free calculations of ETT size for a six-year-old child even though they did not know the formula to determine ETT size. Conversely, more than 31 percent of those who knew this formula, but did not use the card, calculated an incorrect ETT size.

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