WEIGHING PEDIATRIC PATIENTS IN KILOGRAMS

摘要

Medication errors are among the most common and preventable causes of harm to pediatric patients. Often, these errors are related to incorrect dosing because pediatric medication doses are weight-based, unlike the standard dosing units used for adult patients, and the recommended dosages given in terms of kilograms. But children are still weighed on scales that read in pounds or kilograms. A 2009 study revealed that more than one in four medication errors involving wrong patient weights were due to confusion between pounds and kilograms. Based on this and other evidence related to medication errors, and a significant body of research supporting weighing pediatric patients in kilograms, the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) has developed and released a position statement supporting this practice. The American College of Emergency Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Institute for Safe Medicine Practices have all endorsed ENA's position statement.