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Paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in Johannesburg, South Africa

INTRODUCTION: The choice of weight estimation method to use during prehospital paediatric emergency care is important because it needs to be both accurate and easy to use. Accuracy is important to ensure optimum drug dosing while ease-of-use is important to minimise user errors and the cognitive loa...

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Autores principales: Wells, Mike, Barnes, Laurice, Vincent-Lambert, Craig
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: African Federation for Emergency Medicine 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6223602/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30456147
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2018.01.003
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author Wells, Mike
Barnes, Laurice
Vincent-Lambert, Craig
author_facet Wells, Mike
Barnes, Laurice
Vincent-Lambert, Craig
author_sort Wells, Mike
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: The choice of weight estimation method to use during prehospital paediatric emergency care is important because it needs to be both accurate and easy to use. Accuracy is important to ensure optimum drug dosing while ease-of-use is important to minimise user errors and the cognitive load experienced by healthcare providers. Little is known about which weight estimation systems are used in the prehospital environment anywhere in the world. This knowledge is important because if the use of inappropriate weight estimation practices is identified, it could be remedied through education and institutional policies. METHODS: This was a prospective questionnaire study conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa, which obtained information on the knowledge, attitude and practice of weight estimation amongst advanced life support (ALS) paramedics. RESULTS: Forty participants were enrolled, from both the public and private sectors. The participants’ preferred method of weight estimation was visual estimation (7/40; 18%), age-based formulas (16/40; 40%), parental estimation (3/40; 8%), the Broselow tape (2/40; 5%) and the PAWPER tape (11/40; 28%). No participant was familiar with or used the Mercy method. All participants were very confident in the accuracy of their selected system. DISCUSSION: The knowledge and understanding of weight estimation systems by many advanced life support paramedics was poor and the use of inappropriate weight estimation systems was common. Further education and intervention is needed in order to change the sub-optimal weight estimation practices of ALS paramedics in Johannesburg.
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spelling pubmed-62236022018-11-19 Paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in Johannesburg, South Africa Wells, Mike Barnes, Laurice Vincent-Lambert, Craig Afr J Emerg Med Original article INTRODUCTION: The choice of weight estimation method to use during prehospital paediatric emergency care is important because it needs to be both accurate and easy to use. Accuracy is important to ensure optimum drug dosing while ease-of-use is important to minimise user errors and the cognitive load experienced by healthcare providers. Little is known about which weight estimation systems are used in the prehospital environment anywhere in the world. This knowledge is important because if the use of inappropriate weight estimation practices is identified, it could be remedied through education and institutional policies. METHODS: This was a prospective questionnaire study conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa, which obtained information on the knowledge, attitude and practice of weight estimation amongst advanced life support (ALS) paramedics. RESULTS: Forty participants were enrolled, from both the public and private sectors. The participants’ preferred method of weight estimation was visual estimation (7/40; 18%), age-based formulas (16/40; 40%), parental estimation (3/40; 8%), the Broselow tape (2/40; 5%) and the PAWPER tape (11/40; 28%). No participant was familiar with or used the Mercy method. All participants were very confident in the accuracy of their selected system. DISCUSSION: The knowledge and understanding of weight estimation systems by many advanced life support paramedics was poor and the use of inappropriate weight estimation systems was common. Further education and intervention is needed in order to change the sub-optimal weight estimation practices of ALS paramedics in Johannesburg. African Federation for Emergency Medicine 2018-06 2018-03-20 /pmc/articles/PMC6223602/ /pubmed/30456147 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2018.01.003 Text en 2018 African Federation for Emergency Medicine. Publishing services provided by Elsevier. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Original article
Wells, Mike
Barnes, Laurice
Vincent-Lambert, Craig
Paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in Johannesburg, South Africa
title Paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in Johannesburg, South Africa
title_full Paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in Johannesburg, South Africa
title_fullStr Paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in Johannesburg, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in Johannesburg, South Africa
title_short Paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in Johannesburg, South Africa
title_sort paediatric weight estimation practices of advanced life support providers in johannesburg, south africa
topic Original article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6223602/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30456147
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2018.01.003
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