Reducing Pediatric Medication Safety Risks Through Improved Dosing Weight Accuracy: A Hospital-Based Quality Improvement Initiative

BACKGROUND: Avoidable medication errors involving inaccurate weight-based dosing in pediatric patients are a well-documented patient safety concern. LOCAL PROBLEM: Select patients receiving medications and fluids based on nonmeasured weights contributed to medication errors. METHODS: Using several Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) intervention cycles, we aimed to increase the percentage of patients with a measured dosing weight within 12 hours of admission from a baseline of 18.5 % to greater than 75% within 6 months. INTERVENTIONS: PDSA cycles included awareness campaigns, education, and electronic health record enhancements to improve documentation and visualization of weight methods. RESULTS: Patients with documented measured weights used for dosing improved from 18.5% to 66.2%, demonstrating statistically significant improvements. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions are adaptable to other pediatric institutions and potentially to adult populations as well.