The EWOK Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluating Weight Of Kids in the prehospital setting: a retrospective cohort study
IRAS ID
265524
Contact name
Karl Charlton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 0 days
Research summary
The weight of children is the cornerstone of their clinical care and determines fluid quantity, drug dosage and defibrillation power. Paediatric patients who attend the emergency department (ED) are routinely weighed prior to any treatment. This is not currently possible in the ambulance. Instead, Paramedics use a guidance chart categorised by age (one-11 yrs old) to determine weight as suggested by UK ambulance guidelines (JRCALC). Little evidence exists to determine how accurate this guidance is and recent research suggests it may underestimate a child's weight, leading to inappropriate treatment and poor health outcomes.
A large systematic review suggests any weight guidance formula should achieve a minimum 70% accuracy rate before being accepted as accurate; this study sets out to determine the accuracy of ambulance weight guidance by comparing the ambulance guide weight and the actual weight of patients who are physically weighed in hospital. We also aim to evaluate any inappropriate treatments based upon inaccurate weight calculations.
We will seek anonymised hospital data (age, gender and weight in kilograms) for 350 consecutive patients aged between 1 and 11 years old, who attend hospital from 1st January 2019 and whom are weighed. The researchers will not be able to identify any participants from the data provided and will not contact any patients.
This study will be conducted between May 2019 and August 2019.
REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NE/0168
Date of REC Opinion
28 May 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion