Computers do not guarantee patient safety
Using computers to calculate drug doses does not necessarily prevent
human error from occurring, according to the authors of a recent BMJ case report (2007;334:851–2).
The report describes a dose error made when using a handheld computer
to calculate paediatric doses, as a result of the concentration of the
drug in a formula cell being mistakenly overwritten with a patient’s
weight. The authors explain that formula cells cannot be locked in PocketExcel
(used in handheld devices), unlike in the desktop version of Excel. They
note that other software programs for calculating doses are available
but do not tend to be as user-friendly as those based on Excel. Double-checking
of computer-generated doses by a colleague should be routine practice,
they conclude.
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Hospital
Pharmacist