Dosing by Body Weight and Other Measurements

Management of drug dosing by body weight (actual, estimated, ideal, etc.) and by other measurements such as body surface area

Standard dose development for medications commonly used in the neonatal intensive care unit

Robinson CA, Siu A, Meyers R, Lee BH, Cash J

J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther 2014 Apr;19(2):118-26

PMID: 25024672

OBJECTIVES: To establish standardized, rounded doses of medications for neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) through a multi-institutional peer-reviewed process.

METHODS: Pediatric faculty and pediatric pharmacy residents from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy (Piscataway, NJ) conducted a systematic review of rounded, weight-based medication information for neonatal patients from September 2010 to April 2011.
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Evaluating the accuracy of electronic pediatric drug dosing rules

Kirkendall ES, Spooner SA, Logan JR

J Am Med Inform Assoc 2014 Feb;21(e1):e43-9

PMID: 23813541

OBJECTIVE: To determine the accuracy of vendor-supplied dosing eRules for pediatric medication orders. Inaccurate or absent dosing rules can lead to high numbers of false alerts or undetected prescribing errors and may potentially compromise safety in this already vulnerable population. [Read more…]

Sensitivity and specificity of dosing alerts for dosing errors among hospitalized pediatric patients

Stultz JS, Porter K, Nahata MC

J Am Med Inform Assoc 2014 Feb;

PMID: 24496386

OBJECTIVES: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of a dosing alert system for dosing errors and to compare the sensitivity of a proprietary system with and without institutional customization at a pediatric hospital.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis of medication orders, orders causing dosing alerts, reported adverse drug events, and dosing errors during July, 2011 was conducted. Dosing errors with and without alerts were identified and the sensitivity of the system with and without customization was compared.

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