EDTA and Osmolarity Calculating Software

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  May, 2001  by Alan Kadish

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

McGuff Company continues their tradition of producing a worthwhile CD for those of us who mix and match injectable products or those whose practice includes chelation therapy. Their software allows for an easy and convenient method of calculating the osmolarities of our mixtures, printing the resultant mix information and retaining the information for future use. This is the 5th version of their software with a more polished and up to date appearance.

Some of the newer features include the integration of the ability to specify the percent of sodium bicarbonate and type of magnesium, used in chelation mixtures. Additionally, a minimum time factor for the IV therapy is now featured in the calculation window.

When calculating the mixtures of ingredients a helpful pie graphing representation along with a numeric report, for the osmolarity and the sodium content, is updated with each entry. (Refer to the Protocol picture) Once your mixture has been entered you can save the results as a protocol or as a patient specific entry.

One of the more appropriate integrations of this software includes the ability to add new products including the necessary osmolarity and sodium contents. (Refer to the EDTA picture) The program will stop you from adding an inappropriate level of these measures should they appear inaccurately, greater than 100 mOsmo/ml or a sodium level greater than 5000mg/ml, obviously grossly inappropriate levels.

It should be noted that there were a number of installation problems, with the newest edition. You might have installation difficulties dependent on your hardware and software. The underlying issues have now been resolved and an updated version 5 is available.

Purchase of the software can be arranged by calling the McGuff Company at 1-800-854-7220.

Learning Curve: Minimal

Equipment Requirements: Minimal hardware, Windows 9x, 2000

Cost: $55.00

Reimbursability: Not applicable

Warrantee: None

Upgrades: Questionable and not expected

Disposables: None

Ease of Use: Acceptable for ancillary office staff use

LAN and Web Enabled: Neither LAN or Web enabled

Web Site: Still under construction

Overall Rating: Very Useful

Fun Factor: Not applicable

For other reviews of essential tools for clinical practice, go to the www.ToolsforPhysicians.com site. Please continue to suggest hardware and software solutions that you would like to see evaluated. I can be reached at drk@ToolsforPhysicians.com.

COPYRIGHT 2001 The Townsend Letter Group
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning