The Broselow Tape, also called the Broselow pediatric emergency tape, is a color-coded length-based tape measure that is used throughout the world for pediatric emergencies. The Broselow Tape relates a child's height as measured by the tape to their weight to provide medical instructions including medication dosages, the size of the equipment that should be used, and the level of energy when using a defibrillator. Particular to children is the need to calculate all these therapies for each child individually. In an emergency, the time required to do this detracts from valuable time needed to evaluate, initiate, and monitor patient treatment.^[1] The Broselow Tape is designed for children up to approximately 12 years of age who have a maximum weight of roughly 36 kg (79 lb). The Broselow Tape is recognized in most medical textbooks and publications as a standard for the emergency treatment of children.^[2]

This section contains instructions, advice, or how-to content. (June 2023)

Properly measuring a child with the Broselow Tape

Color coded equipment drawers based on the Broselow Tape

To use the Broselow Tape effectively, the child must be lying down.^[3] Use one hand to hold the red end of the tape, so it is even with the child's head. (Remember: "red to head"). While maintaining one hand on the red portion at the top of the child's head, use your free hand to run the tape down the length of the child's body until it is even with their heels (not toes). The tape that is level with the child's heels will provide their approximate weight in kilograms and their color zone.^{[citation needed]}

As the tape is not completely accurate, care is required with its use.^[4]

The original Broselow tape was divided into 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) zones for medication doses and eight color zones for equipment selection. Subsequent versions of the tape combined dosing and equipment zones such that the eight color zones contained both dosing and equipment information, thus creating a simple visual system for medication and equipment which is used in most hospitals and ambulances.^{[citation needed]}

The following list identifies which color zones correlate with each estimated weight zone in kilograms (kg) and pounds (lb).

Emergency physicians James Broselow and Robert Luten struggled with solving these issues related to the emergency treatment of children in the early 1980s. The result was the invention by Broselow of a home-made prototype version of the tape in 1985. Broselow joined with Luten, an academic physician from the University of Florida and member of the newly formed pediatric advanced life support subcommittee, to do the foundational studies upon which the tape was based and to develop and update the tape over the years.^[8][9]

The tape provides pre-calculated medication doses, effectively eliminating the potential errors associated with pediatric emergent dosing preparation and administration. This benefit has had major implications in recent years, given the prevalence and magnitude of medication errors. Medical errors are a greater threat to children than adults because their organs are smaller and still developing. An estimated 35% of pediatric patients^[10] are incorrectly dosed by EMS providers. Tenfold mathematical errors due to incorrect calculations are a much greater threat to children than adults. Due to the high level of incorrect calculation errors, alternative pediatric emergency tapes Archived 2019-01-20 at the Wayback Machine that can be customized have gained popularity. A tenfold adult overdose of a standard adult medication would require multiple syringes and tends, therefore, to be obvious to a caregiver, effectively warning of the error. In contrast, for a small child both a 1x correct dose and a 10x overdose of a drug can be administered in the same syringe, thus providing no clue as to a potential error. Furthermore, pediatric emergency care is especially prone to error due to the chaotic nature and stress associated with the emergency setting.^[11]