SPaCE

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Does the use of a smartphone application improve accuracy of paediatric emergency drug and fluid calculations?

• IRAS ID

  255756

• Contact name

  Jeff Morgan

• Contact email

  Jeff.Morgan2@wales.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Research and Development Department

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 1 months, 29 days

• Research summary

  This study aims to evaluate if the use of a smartphone application improve the accuracy of paediatric emergency drug and fluid calculations when compared to the traditional methods of mental arithmetic or the use of aid memoirs. The study will be conducted in Emergency and Paediatric Departments across four sites within the Welsh Research and Education Network (WREN).
  The study will not involve patient inclusion; instead, participants will be doctors and nurses recruited conveniently. Recruited participants will be asked to calculate emergency drug and fluid values (WETFLAG values - Weight, Energy, Tracheal tube size, Fluid volume, Lorazepam dose, Adrenaline dose, Glucose dose) for fictional cases using;
  a) Mental arithmetic / calculator
  b) Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS) aide-memoire charts
  c) A purpose built mobile phone application
  The number of errors made, time taken and participant stress level for each method and case will be recorded. A total of six episodes will be recorded for each participant. The order that the methods, and the fictional cases, will be performed will be randomised via sealed opaque envelopes. Data will be recorded in a standardised data collection proforma.
  Each participant will undergo one study visit only – data collection. There will be no follow-up visits for this study. Participants are able to withdraw from the study at any time, including the withdrawal of consent for their data to be used. If this is the case the participant will be replaced with someone of the same background, e.g. doctor or nurse and from the same area within the same hospital e.g. A&E at UHW. The study will be deemed closed once data collection for all 96 participants has been completed. Once all data has been collected, statistical analysis will be performed to investigate any difference in performance between the groups.

• REC name

  N/A

• REC reference

  N/A