Clinical guidelines and drug calculators

For healthcare professionals

Our policy

These clinical guidelines have been produced by South Thames Retrieval Service (STRS) at Evelina London for nurses, doctors and ambulance technicians to refer to in the emergency care of critically ill children.

These guidelines represent the views of STRS which were produced after careful consideration of available evidence in conjunction with clinical expertise and experience. The guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient.

Drug calculators, clinical guidelines and drug doses

Our longstanding web-based "Emergency drug dose calculator" does not have accurate maximum doses for some drugs, cannot be updated and has compatibility issues with modern internet browsers. It has been taken out of service. We encourage all health professionals in the South Thames region to use our STRS app, "Paediatric Emergency Tools". This is now free and available on phones and tablets using Apple (iOS) and Android/Google.

Document	Due for review
Peripheral inotropes (PDF 35KB)	11/2022
Age based norms and infusion calculator (PDF 321KB) - please make sure you download the PDF to your desktop	03/2020
Corrected sodium calculator (PDF 222KB) - please make sure you download the PDF to your desktop	03/2020
Reference doses for IV infusions (PDF 15KB)	03/2020
Our paediatric formulary, provides guidance on the use of medicines approved for use in children.
Hypertonic sodium chloride (PDF 439KB)	06/2025

Guideline	Due for review
Paediatric emergencies (A-Z)	n/a
Acute respiratory distress Syndrome (ARDS) (PDF 243KB)	10/2025
Arrhythmias - SVT, Atrial Flutter, Ventricular tachycardia (PDF 204KB)	10/2025
Asthma (PDF 431KB)	07/2024
Bronchiolitis (PDF 175KB)	09/2025
Burns (PDF 202KB)	03/2025
Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) (PDF 432KB)	12/2023
Diabetic Ketoacidosis: Two bag technique (PDF 248KB)	12/2023
DKA corrected sodium calculator (PDF 222KB), download the PDF and save on desktop before use.	03/2020
Drowning (PDF 444KB)	06/2024
Electrolyte emergencies (PDF 306KB)	02/2025
Liver failure (PDF 365KB)	09/2025
Malaria (PDF 252KB)	02/2026
Metabolic disorders (PDF 423KB)	01/2021
Neonatal collapse (PDF 660KB)	05/2024
Neurosurgical emergency (PDF 613KB)	11/2025
Oncological emergencies - includes febrile neturopaenia, tumour lysis syndrome and airway obstruction due to mediastinal mass (PDF 448KB)	09/2025
PIMS-TS Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PDF 76KB)	01/2022
Peripheral Inotropes (PDF 234KB)	04/2025
Pertussis (PDF 125KB)	09/2021
Sepsis (PDF 318KB)	11/2024
Status Epilepticus - seizures (PDF 176KB)	03/2026
Stroke *Please be aware that this is an external guideline, written by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.	External guideline
Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage (TAPVD) (PDF 206KB)	11/2021
General management and theory	n/a
Adult transfer	01/2024
Travel Health Pro website provides information on risk of different diseases across the world (eg Malaria) *Please be aware that this is an external website, endorsed by the NHS.
Patient stabilisation (PDF 331KB)	06/2024
Intubation (PDF 1.15MB)	02/2024
Securing endotracheal tubes (ETT) (PDF 577KB)	06/2025
Management of the paediatric patient in adult ITU (PDF 393KB)	10/2024
End of life care at referral hospitals (PDF 127KB)	11/2020
Drug extravasation (PDF 234KB)	01/2022
Acid base interpretation (PDF 340KB)	07/2025
Transport	n/a
Aeromedical transfer (PDF 458KB)	09/2024
Neurosurgical emergency (PDF 613KB)	11/2025

Paediatric Emergency Tools app

Paediatric Emergency Tools app for phones and tablets is now free. Please download from Apple (iOS) and Android/Google. The app provides:

drug calculations based on a child's age and weight
calculated cardiac arrest drugs
calculated induction agents, muscle relaxants and anticonvulsants
over 80 additional infusion and bolus drugs
calculated physiological parameters (reference ranges for heart rate, blood pressure)
calculated paediatric endotracheal tube sizes and other equipment
infusion rate and glucose calculator
guidelines from STRS, seamlessly updated each time you connect to WiFi