A shortcut for preparing doses of positive inotropic drug infusions in emergency patient management—"fast inotrope bag (FiB) coefficient''

Abstract

The most basic rule for the management of patients in the emergency departments (EDs) and critical & intensive units (ICUs) are quick decision and quick order medication. For this reason, calculator applications are a necessary part of EDs in order to calculate some drug doses quickly. With the simple formula we discovered, it will be much easier to place an order for the 4 most frequently used drugs of the EDs (dopamine, dobutamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine). We recommend this simple and fast calculation method to all EDs and ICUs with fast inotrope bag (FiB) coefficient. This coefficient has been developed especially for simple pump devices or dosing devices that do not use ready-made inotropic drug bags and that, if needed, first control the preparation of the solution and then the hourly infusion of the prepared solution. These devices are used only because the amount of solution to be given to the patient per hour can be monitored. Taking advantage of this coefficient, the inotrope needed by the patient can be administered easily and quickly with only the patient’s weight information, and the initial dose corresponds to the dose range recommended by the guidelines for inotropes.