AnesthCalc™ is associated with superior accuracy and faster accomplishment in simulation-based anesthesia drugs dosage calculation

Abstract

Background: Medication error is one of the barriers to achieving sustainable patient safety. We aim to determine the efficacy and reliability of a smartphone dosage calculator application (AnesthCalc™) when compared with the manual calculation of various anesthetic drugs to prevent medication error. Materials and Methods: This is a pre-test–post-test intervention study. There are 52 participants who included residents in anesthesiology, which is divided into two groups. Each group performed two simulation cases in which they had to calculate drugs dosage in anesthesia settings. One set of cases was performed with the app and the other set was performed manually. The order of drugs and simulation patients was randomized. The accuracy and the deviation of administered drug doses were recorded. Accuracy of dosage was categorized as either accurate (80–100% of target dose) or inaccurate (less than 80%), whereas the deviation of dosage was categorized as either deviant (<50% or >200% of target dose) or safe (between the range). Results: There is a significant increase in the accuracy of calculation between the manual group and that using the app group (from 46% to 92%, a mean increase of 18.29%, P < 0.005). There is a significant decrease in the duration of calculation between without using the app group and with using the app group (from 32.92 to 18.79 s, a mean decrease of 30.55 s, P = 0.001). Conclusion: AnesthCalc™ is a valid and reliable instrument as it increases users’ accuracy and shortens calculating time. AnesthCalc™ may be the potential to reduce calculation errors and may increase patients’ safety.