Peri-arrest bolus epinephrine practices amongst pediatric resuscitation experts

AIM: To describe current practices of peri-arrest bolus epinephrine use amongst pediatric resuscitation experts in a multinational survey. METHODS: A 9-question survey was developed and electronically distributed to pediatric critical care physicians who are site investigators for the Pediatric Resuscitation Quality Collaborative (pediRES-Q) network. Institutional demographics were collected through the American Hospital Association 2018 Annual Survey and linked to responses. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize closed-ended responses, and qualitative content analysis to analyze open-ended responses. RESULTS: Of the 63 collaborative members invited to participate, 49 (78%) responded, representing 35 institutions in 9 countries. Forty-six of the 49 respondents (94%) reported that they would consider using peri-arrest bolus epinephrine during critical situations in patients not requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Initial dosing strategies ranged from 0.1mcg/kg to 10mcg/kg, with the most commonly reported initial dose of 1mcg/kg by 25 of the 37 (68%) respondents who answered this question. Three of the 49 (6%) participants indicated that they would generally avoid using peri-arrest bolus epinephrine, citing lack of evidence to support its use. CONCLUSIONS: In this multinational survey of pediatric resuscitation experts, endorsement of peri-arrest bolus epinephrine use was nearly universal, though a few clinicians cited lack of evidence to support this practice. There was a 100-fold difference in the range of initial weight-based doses reported, as well as a minority of clinicians who reported using non-weight-based dosing. Further research is needed to determine best practices, standardization of initial dosing, clinical factors that may warrant dosing modifications and associations with clinically important outcomes.