Pediatric Emergency Drugs Calculator

This calculator computes weight-based emergency drug doses and defibrillation energy for pediatric resuscitation, following the American Heart Association's 2020 PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) guidelines for dosing: epinephrine 0.01 mg/kg of 1:10,000 concentration (max 1 mg), atropine 0.02 mg/kg (minimum 0.1 mg to avoid a paradoxical bradycardic response at very low doses, maximum 0.5 mg for children or 1.0 mg from age 12), amiodarone 5 mg/kg for refractory pulseless VF/VT (max 300 mg), a 20 mL/kg isotonic fluid bolus, two-tier adenosine dosing for SVT (0.1 mg/kg first dose, max 6 mg; 0.2 mg/kg second dose, max 12 mg), and weight-based dextrose for hypoglycemia. Body weight drives every dose here -- it is the only input most of these formulas use at all, which is why accurate weight (measured, or estimated from a Broselow tape when a child cannot be weighed) matters more than age for most of these doses. Age matters specifically for two things: it raises the atropine maximum from 0.5 mg to 1.0 mg starting at 12 years old, and it switches the dextrose formula from D10W 5 mL/kg (for infants under 1 year, using a more dilute concentration appropriate for smaller-caliber IVs) to D25W 2 mL/kg (from age 1) -- both formulas deliver the same 0.5 g/kg dextrose dose, just at different concentrations. Defibrillation follows the standard 2 J/kg initial, 4 J/kg subsequent PALS escalation, capped at 200 J (a commonly cited adult biphasic defibrillator maximum) since PALS explicitly caps subsequent shocks at the adult maximum dose rather than letting the per-kg formula scale indefinitely for larger adolescents.

The 20 mL/kg fluid bolus reflects traditional PALS teaching; some newer pediatric septic shock protocols favor more cautious, incremental boluses (e.g. 10 mL/kg) with reassessment between doses. This tool supports, and does not replace, real-time clinical judgment, institutional protocols, and Broselow-tape or pharmacy cross-checks during an actual resuscitation.