Auto Dose Calculation from MedActionPlan

The dosing of oral liquid medications, from the same household spoon by different persons, can result in a dose variation of up to 4 mL¹. This variation can lead to serious dosing errors. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended oral dosing syringes as the preferred method of administering these medications.² One study showed that 100% of parents who were given a syringe, with a line marked at the correct dose and a demonstration of the correct dose, were able to administer oral liquid medications correctly and accurately.³

Now, you can provide a “virtual” marked syringe and demonstration with Auto Dose Calculation from MedActionPlan.com. With Auto Dose Calculation, all you need to do is enter the medication name and prescribed dose in milligrams—the correct dose in milliliters is calculated automatically and a printable chart is generated that shows a syringe prefilled with the selected mL dose. The syringe image can help caregivers visualize the dosing process and understand how to administer the correct dose of oral liquid medication with an oral dosing syringe. This new auto dosing function will help improve patient compliance and medication safety, said Heidi Trinkman, PharmD, Cook Children’s Medical Center, Fort Worth, Texas.

MedActionPlan for Pediatrics has more than 125 oral liquid medications and over 100 institutional compounds in its database. Hospitals are able to create medication schedules with pill images, pill dosage and quantity for their patients. MedActionPlan is HIPAA-compliant and is available at no charge to qualified healthcare providers.

References:

1. Madlon-Kay D, Mosch FS. Liquid medication dosing errors. J Fam Pract. 2000;49:741-744.
2. Committee on Drugs. Inaccuracies in administering liquid medication. Pediatrics. 1975;56:37-328.
3. McMahon SR, Rimsza ME, Bay RC. Parents can dose liquid medication accurately. Pediatrics. 1997;100(3 Pt 1):330-333.

MedActionPlan users who print the Weekly Checklist or Health Record for their patients will find a useful new feature available: you can now select which day the week starts with. Why would you want to do that? It could make it easier for the patient to use the tool, and save you a sheet of paper in the process.

For example, perhaps you have a patient being discharged on a Wednesday, with a follow-up appointment in one week. With the old version of the Checklist and Health Record, you would need to print two sheets for each: one for the remaining days in the first week, and another for the first few days of the next week. And each page would have several columns left unused, which could be confusing for some patients. With the new feature, you can print a single page beginning on the day of discharge. 

Selecting the first day of the week is a simple one-step process: simply click on the day along the top of the Checklist or Health Record. Your selection on one page will be applied to all the pages. Just click on SUN (Sunday) to go back to the default.