High fever in children represents the highest number of calls to physicians and trips to the emergency room.

When giving fever medication to their children, many parents worry about measuring the dose incorrectly. Often, they err on the side of caution and end up under-dosing – and when the fever does not come down, they call their physician or take their child to the emergency room.

Catawba Valley Medical Center has become one of the first in the country to implement Color Coding Kids, a medicine dosing system for children that helps parents determine accurate doses of over-the-counter fever medicines – namely, ibuprofen or acetaminophen – at home. 

In partnership with NC AccessCare of Catawba County, CVMC is providing area NC AccessCare parents with free Color Coding Kids kits.  The kits include a color-coded wall chart, a color-coded syringe, an adapter for medicine bottles, and instructions.  The materials are in both English and Spanish and are available from family doctors and pediatricians affiliated with the Catawba Valley Medical Group.

How it works:  Using a child’s weight, a doctor determines a child’s “color” based on the color-coded wall chart.  A color can also be identified based on height if the weight is unknown.  Once a child’s color is determined, parents match it on a color-coded oral syringe for an exact dose of medicine that is appropriate for that particular child.

Color Coding Kids is part of the larger Broselow-Luten System, in which hospitals across the country use color-coded charts to match properly-sized medical equipment with children based on weight and height.  It was developed in part by James Broselow, M.D., a former Catawba Valley Medical Center emergency room physician.  A clinical version of the color coding medicine dosing system, which provides accurate dosing numbers for a variety of children’s medications, has also been implemented at the medical center.

While Color Coding Kids kits are only available to NC AccessCare parents in Catawba County, Catawba Valley Medical Center is implementing a research program to determine if the kits help reduce emergency room visits for children with fevers.  If successful, the initiative has the potential to be implemented statewide.

“The Color Coding Kids kits are helping parents avoid unnecessary trips to emergency rooms for fevers.  The hospital version is also making a big difference in emergency rooms and pediatric units, because it simplifies complicated dosing calculations and helps take the guesswork out of treating a child.” ~ David Peltzer, M.D., Newton Family Physicians & Medical Director, NC AccessCare of Catawba County