Abstract
Is the Broselow Tape a Reliable Indicator for Use in All Pediatric Trauma Patients? A Look at a Rural Trauma Center
Quick and reliable assessment of a pediatric patient's height and weight is useful to wilderness medicine clinicians. The Broselow tape is an accurate method of estimating a child's weight based on height-weight correlations and determining medication dosages and equipment sizes. In the United States, however, there is increased childhood obesity and waistlines, and it is estimated that as many as 36% of children 10 to 17 years old are now overweight or obese. In this study, done in West Virginia, 53% of the pediatric population fell outside the predicted weight range. Of this group, 77.1% weighed more than predicted by the Broselow tape.
Although the study was in West Virginia and might not be generalizable to healthier states, the authors suggest that it highlights the potential of hospitals for underdosing their patients' medications if the Broselow tape is the sole measurement tool. Because there are few alternatives to the Broselow tape in an emergency situation, clinical judgment can help compensate for the measurement's shortcomings in each individual situation.
(Pediatr Emerg Care. 2011;27:479–482). JC Knight, M Nazim, D Riggs, et al
Prepared by Brian Vu, MD, University of Texas Houston Emergency Medicine Resident, Houston, TX, USA