Air medical crewmembers must routinely dose medications under pressure. Now, they and their patients stand to benefit from a new product called SafeDose Scan, which eliminates mental math to ensure safe, accurate dosing every time.
Launched by the eBroselow company at last month’s Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC) in Charlotte, North Carolina, the handheld device uses Honeywell scanning technology to scan the U.S. National Drug Code barcode of any acute medication. It then instantly displays the contents of the vial, and automatically calculates the correct dosage for a given patient’s size. Warnings and other relevant administration information are also provided.
“Healthcare can never be high reliability when people are doing math on a bed sheet in the middle of the night,” the inventor of the device, Dr. James Broselow, told Vertical at AMTC. “Nobody wants to do math in the middle of the night and have someone’s life depend on it.”
Broselow has a longstanding commitment to improving reliability and eliminating errors in healthcare. Originally board certified in family medicine, Broselow was moonlighting as an emergency room doctor in the 1980s when he realized how challenging it could be to treat children in the ER.
Along with Dr. Robert Luten, he developed the Broselow Tape, a color-coded measuring tape that relates a child’s height to his or her weight to quickly provide proper dosing and airway information. The tape became a standard in pediatric emergency care.
As drugs became more numerous and complex, Broselow began thinking about new clinical tools for treating children and adults. He and Luten launched eBroselow in 2010. The company’s flagship product is eBroselow Web, a comprehensive, customizable database of drugs and indications that can be accessed via web browser. It is also accessible on mobile devices through an iOS and Android app, SafeDose Pro, which can operate in airplane mode once loaded.
SafeDose Scan pairs the eBroselow Web database with professional scanning technology to further reduce the potential for human error. It is available as either a self-contained handheld computer, for $2,495, or as a “healthcare sled” for the Apple iPod Touch and iPhone, for $1,800. The purchase price includes a one-year license for eBroselow’s mobile software, which is revised frequently.
“It’s not static,” Broselow emphasized. “We update this information all the time.”
Broselow envisions air medical programs purchasing one device per aircraft for ready access by medical crews. Because SafeDose Scan is mobile, crewmembers can carry it easily from the helicopter into the hospital. The device can also document administration of medications and sync this information to eBroselow Web.
“Our goal is for this to become a national standard,” Broselow said. “What I really believe is in 10 years, people are going to say, ‘Can you believe we used to give meds without scanning them?'”
