The electronic Pediatric Emergency Ruler - A digital alternative to the BroselowTape

Study objective: The Broselow^® tape (BT) is a pediatric emergency tape (PET) supporting medical teams during pediatric emergencies in estimating body weight, recommending drug dosage and medical equipment. Publications have reported the risk of incorrect use and low accuracy. A recently published digital algorithm for length-based body weight estimation showed higher accuracy for weight estimation. A prototype for an electronic Pediatric Emergency Ruler (ePER) utilizing this algorithm was developed for further testing. The aim of this study was to compare the BT with the ePER in terms of time and correctness of identifying medical information required during pediatric emergency treatment.

Methods: Voluntary participants were randomly assigned to use the BT or the ePER in a simulated low-fidelity pediatric emergency manikin scenario and instructed to identify four parameters. Outcomes were time required for identification of all parameters, correct determination of length-based weight and erroneous reading of parameters for the selected weight category. Data are mean or percent. T-test for statistical significance (p < 0.05) and standardized mean difference (SMD > 0.8) were calculated.

Results: Identifying medical information was significantly faster with the ePER than with the BT (24.5 vs 36.7 sec, p<0.001; SMD 1.53). Both devices were used correctly in 77.8% of the cases. Overall erroneous readings occurred in 1.9%.

Conclusion: The ePER represents a modern and comprehensive solution to support medical staff during pediatric emergencies. This digital solution could be considered as an alternative to the BT.