Emergency Medical Dispatchers Can Obtain Accurate Pediatric Weights from 9-1-1 Callers. (1st November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chassee, Todd; Reischmann, Diann; Mancera, Michael; Hoyle, John D.
• Is Part Of: Prehospital emergency care. Volume 20:Number 6(2016)
• Page Start: 808
• Page End: 814
• Publication Date: 2016-11-01
• Subjects: emergency medical dispatch -- pediatric -- weight; 362.18
• DOI: 10.3109/10903127.2016.1168892
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1090-3127

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Prehospital pediatric drug dosing errors affect 56, 000 U.S. children annually. An accurate weight is the first step in accurate dosing. To date, the accuracy of Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) obtained weights has not been evaluated. We hypothesized that EMD could obtain accurate pediatric weights.Methods: We used a convenience sample of patients 12 years and younger that were transported by EMS to one children's hospital. EMD obtained patient weight (DW) from the 9-1-1 caller. Paramedics reported their estimate of the patient's weight on arrival to the hospital (PW). The DW and PW were compared to the hospital scale weight (HW) for accuracy.Results: A total of 197 patients were included. Parent/guardians were the most frequent 9-1-1 callers (74%). The most frequent method utilized by paramedics to obtain patient weight was to ask a family member. For 0–2 year olds, the mean differences between HW and DW/PW were 0.239kg (SD 3.117)/ -0.374 (SD 2.528). For 3–7 year olds, the mean differences between HW and DW/PW were 0.041kg (SD 4.684)/1.007 (SD 2.466). For 8–11 year olds the mean difference between HW and DW/PW was 2.768 kg (SD 10.926)/ 1.919 (SD 6.909).Conclusion: EMD were able to obtain pediatric patient weights with relative accuracy for patients 0–7 year old. Using this EMD-obtained weight to carry out a drug dose calculation would be unlikely to result in a clinically significant dose error in the vast majority of cases. Communicating an EMD-obtained weight to EMS crews en route to a pediatric patient offers additional preparation time for drug calculations, which could improve accuracy.