Pediatric age to weight (new pharmacist)

[chemoman]

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Ok so my 7th day working as a Pharmacist in community setting been very nervous about pediatric dosing. What is the best way to approximate a child's weight based on their age?

 

[a student]

Using the dose, calculate out a range of weights that makes the dose okay, when the parents come just confirm with them.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Ok so my 7th day working as a Pharmacist in community setting been very nervous about pediatric dosing. What is the best way to approximate a child's weight based on their age?

Go to the store and buy a big red sharpie.

On each prescription that makes you worried, put a giant red note.

"ASK THE PARENT FOR CHILD'S WEIGHT AND GET THE PHARMACIST" and document that you'll be getting the weight in the system

EDIT: the real answer is that you should already know the upper dosing limits for what I'm guessing are scripts for pedi antibiotics

 

[pezdispenser]

https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/

 

[lord999]

You could just expense a scale in your store and weigh them yourselves if you have to (infants not recommend) if you don't trust the parents' answer. Looking and figuring out weight is possible, but you have to be pretty solid in physical assessment to pull it off and I doubt most pharmacists get that kind of practice.

 

[gwarm01]

There is always the Handtevy method: http://handtevy.com/index.php/2014-08-30-14-56-38

It's a simple and quick method to approximate pediatric patient weight. Dr. Antevy is also a stand up guy and was always a pleasure to work with during my time in Florida, so props to him for that!

 

[chemoman]

I like the backwards method better. For instance Amox 125/5 (5 ml po TID) would be 375/day total. which at 90mg/kg/day would make the child about 4.2kgs (9.2lbs)<----- then just confirm this with the parent and hope the child is not lighter than that.

I have been using this guide, but for some reason I dont find it reliable. http://www.dmconsortium.org/filesimages/clerkship resources/peds_pediatric_norms.pdf

 

[ChapKid]

I have been practicing for about two years and use the backwards method as well. Use the max dose range to find a weight and confirm with the parents later if it seems close. Seeing as I am at the same store everyday I have a good idea of which doctors are dosing appropriately and which ones I call to verify.