Introduction to Medical Calculators in the Medscape App
Peace be upon you and the mercy of God and His blessings. The third section I would like to discuss in the Medscape app is the medical calculators (Calculators). Indeed, this section is very useful, and I have not found another app that gathers these tools with such benefit like Medscape. Therefore, I will divide this topic into several parts, God willing, to give various practical examples.
Example 1: Intravenous Iron Dose Calculation (Iron Replacement)
Let's take the first practical example: A woman is experiencing symptoms of anemia, and after examination, it is found that her hemoglobin level is (10.5 mg/dL), and she is diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia. The patient weighs 65 kilograms.
Question: What is the appropriate intravenous iron dose for her?
Steps to Use the App:
- Go to the third section from the bottom named Calculators.
- Click on it and type keywords, such as: Iron.
- An option will appear: Iron Replacement for Iron Deficiency (Iron replacement for iron deficiency via intravenous).
- Enter the data:
- Weight: 65 kilograms.
- Hemoglobin: 10.5 mg/dL.
Very Important Note About Units of Measurement:
When entering data, the result may initially appear as (566 mg), but is this correct? No, it is not correct.
The reason is that we did not adjust the correct unit for weight; the default unit in the app was "pounds" (lb) while the patient's weight is in kilograms. This is a very vital point when using Medscape, as apps may rely on different units of measurement than those commonly used locally, so it is always necessary to ensure that the unit is changed to (kg).
After changing the unit to kilograms, the dose changed to (1249 mg), which is approximately 1.25 grams.
Example 2: Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculation
The second example concerns a person wondering if their weight is appropriate for their height; their weight is 90 kilograms and their height is 180 centimeters.
Question: Based on the Body Mass Index (BMI) chart, is their weight appropriate?
The importance of BMI is not only in the desire to lose weight as general advice, but we also need to know it as a risk factor for some diseases, and to calculate some drug doses, among other things.
Steps to Use the App:
- Search in the calculators section for Body Mass Index.
- Several options will appear, including those specifically for children and adolescents (ages 2 to 20) for both girls and boys.
- Since our question is about an adult (over 20 years old), we choose the first general option.
- Enter the data: height 180 cm, weight 90 kg.
Frequent Warning: You must double-check the units again. Change the height unit from "inches" to "centimeters", and the weight unit from "pounds" to "kilograms".
Result and Analysis:
After adjusting the units, the result appeared as (27.7). Medscape app shows us that this person falls into the category (25 to 30), which is the category of overweight (Overweight).
Therefore, the answer is that their weight is not appropriate for their height, even if they are relatively tall, so they should work on reducing their weight because they have entered the category of excess weight.
I will explain the third example in a separate registration because it is somewhat long.