Joining forces on $1.37M project to reduce prehospital medication errors for children

Saving the lives of children in emergency situations requires quick thinking and accurate decision-making. Unfortunately, administering medications to young patients can be a challenge for paramedics, who must often read tiny drug labels and calculate dosages on the fly. 

That’s why a team of researchers from Western Michigan University, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) and the University of Michigan (UM) are developing a head-mounted display using Microsoft HoloLens that could one day help paramedics in these situations. That team includes two WMU College of Engineering and Applied Sciences professors: Dr. Tycho Fredericks, professor of industrial and entrepreneurial engineering, and Dr. Guan Yue Hong, associate professor of computer science.

“I am thrilled to be part of this cross-disciplinary team addressing such a purposeful challenge,” says Fredericks. “Our team is well positioned to pursue new paths and build innovative solutions.” 

With a $1.37 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the project, titled “Augmenting the On-scene Medic (ATOM): Development of a head-mounted display application to reduce prehospital pediatric medication errors,” runs through March 2026.

“We’re going to use the functionality of the HoloLens to read drug vials and double-check doses pulled up in syringes, in addition to helping paramedics obtain a patient’s weight and calculating the correct drug dose for a patient,” says Dr. John Hoyle, the project’s principal investigator, who serves as WMed’s assistant dean for simulation. “This has never been tried before.”

Critical pediatric cases make up just 1-3% of paramedic emergency encounters, yet studies show a 31% error rate in all drugs administered by EMS to children. Hoyle says attempts to reduce medication dosing errors have been unsuccessful in the past, and existing cognitive aids for paramedics have not fully addressed the root causes of these errors.

“This new technology has the chance to disrupt the high rates of pediatric dosage errors and finally bring those numbers down,” says Hoyle. 

Given his focus on healthcare technology development and his position as director of WMU’s Human Performance Institute, Fredericks is ideally suited for this project, while Hong and her students will develop the mixed reality application for the head-mounted device, as well as a desktop application for project management and administration.

“My students are thrilled to be supported by the grant to develop state-of-the-art and AI-enabled mixed reality applications for emergency medical care doctors who save lives, which makes the project so meaningful,” says Hong.