Designing and evaluating an automated intravenous dosage medication calculation tool for reducing the time of stat medication administration in a pediatric emergency department

BACKGROUND: Urgent medications are regularly prescribed using the term “stat”, which indicates that the medication should be administered within 30 min after it is ordered. However, many hospitals struggle to reliably administer stat medications within 30 min after they are ordered. This study involved developing and evaluating an automated intravenous dosage medication calculation tool (AIVDMCT) for reducing the time between the order and administration of stat medications to children at a pediatric emergency department (PED) in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This prospective observational study evaluated data from before (June–December 2016) and after (June–December 2017) the AIVDMCT was implemented for high-risk medications in our PED. Patients were considered eligible if they were <14 years old, weighed <40 kg, and required stat intravenous (IV) medications at the PED of our tertiary care hospital. RESULTS: Implementation of the AIVDMCT significantly reduce the intervals between the time of order (TO) and the time of preparation (TP) (average time: 8.05 ± 3.42 min) and between the TP and the time of administration (TA) (average time: 3.74 ± 1.70 min). Furthermore, the interval from the TO to the TA was significantly reduced after the AIVDMCT was implemented (average time: 11.79 ± 4.48 min, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The AIVDMCT was associated with a significant reduction in the interval from the TO to the TA. This increased the proportion of stat medications that were delivered within the 30-min target window.