Extranet
DEEN
Extranet
DEEN

PEDeDose – simulation study on pediatric drug dosing

A simulation study was carried out to assess the impact of PEDeDose. The study concluded that healthcare professionals do substantially less dosing errors and are even faster when using PEDeDose.

In 2022, we had a scientific simulation study carried out, in collaboration with the University of Basel, to assess whether the use of PEDeDose reduces drug dose calculation errors and time. For that the following three dose calculation methods were compared:

  • PEDeDose (automatic calculation)
  • PEDeDose without calculator (only database with pocket calculator)
  • Traditional calculation (Summary of Product Characteristics and calculation using a pocket calculator)

52 physicians and pharmacists volunteered for the study and calculated altogether over 900 drug dosages for hypothetical patients. We would like to cordially thank all the participants!

The results of the study are unambiguous and speak clearly in favour of using PEDeDose in daily paediatric practice:

 

Number of errors 
PEDeDose5% (14 of 309 dosages were incorrect)
PEDeDose (without calculator)16% (49 of 312 dosages were incorrect)
Traditional calculation22% (70 of 311 dosages were incorrect)
  
Median calculation time 
PEDeDose86 seconds per dosage
PEDeDose (without calculator)132 seconds per dosage
Traditional calculation161 seconds per dosage

 

The number of dosing errors and the time required was significantly lower when PEDeDose was used. Upon careful analysis of the data, it was seen that there were 27 cases in the pocket calculator group where a maximal dosage was not respected, while there was none in the PEDeDose group. We are convinced that it must be the goal of all of us to prevent dosing errors in children's medicines. The study shows that PEDeDose is exactly able to do that. Furthermore, healthcare professionals are twice as fast when calculating medication dosages thanks to PEDeDose.

Do you want to know more about our simulation study? Check out our freely available scientific article published in the BMJ Paediatrics Open.

Congress posters

Käser K, Mühlbeier M et al. MEDeHelp - Development of an emergency mobile application for Europe. Congress of the European Society for Developmental Perinatal and Paediatric Pharmacology, Nijmegen, The Netherlands (June 2025).
Wälti M, Käser K et al. Development of new digital tools to improve medication safety and facilitate everyday work. Kongress der Schweizerischen Amts- und Spitalapotheker GSASA, Basel, Switzerland (Nov 2024).
Higi L, Käser K et al. Impact of clinical decision support on pediatric drug dose prescribing. Jahrestagung der Schweizerischen Akademie für Perinatale Pharmakologie SAPP, Zurich, Switzerland (Nov 2023).