Yorkshire doctors' iPhone app 'could save child lives'

Dr Samiei shows BBC Look North's Penny Bustin how the app can save precious time

An iPhone application that takes the guesswork out of prescribing medicine for young A&E patients has been devised by three Yorkshire doctors.

Accident and emergency doctors normally have to guess the weight of critical patients and mentally calculate correct drug doses and which equipment to use.

The Paeds ED application makes the calculations in a matter of seconds.

The app has been shortlisted for the Technology and IT prize at the Patient Safety Awards 2010 in London on Friday.

The application has been downloaded 10,000 times since its launch in October.

Dr Haidar Samiei, a consultant at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, told BBC News: "Hopefully it will save lives."

Dr Samiei designed the app with fellow emergency consultants Dr Brad Wilson, from Bradford Royal Infirmary, and Dr Taj Hassan, from Leeds General Infirmary.

He said it was easy for doctors to make "big mistakes" while under pressure.

He said: "We're fairly confident that this will decrease prescribing errors and the new technologies, as they come around faster and faster every time, will just really stop errors in moments of crisis."