Steroid Taper Calculator

The primary features of the Steroid Taper App are:

1) Calculates a taper of steroids by a fixed dose.
2) Calculates a taper of steroids by a fixed percentage of the previous dose.
3) Allows the user to create a manual pill taper by specifying the pill strength, number of pills and duration of each step of the taper.
4) Allows the user to create a manual liquid taper by specifying the liquid concentration, dose volume and duration of each step of the taper.
5) Creates an easy-to-read, patient-friendly calendar from any of the above tapers that can be emailed and printed.
6) Creates an easy-to-read summary of the taper to facilitate review by the user.
7) Creates tapers for the most common pill and liquid forms of steroids (predniSONE and prednisoLONE, respectively)

The Steroid Taper App also has the following features:
1) Allows entry of patient height and weight to alert the user if starting steroid dose is above 3mg/kg (higher than standard outpatient regimens)
2) Calculates body surface area to determine at what dose taper should be slowed down due to potential adrenal insufficiency (“adrenal point”).
3) Allows entry of height and weight in either metric and English units
4) Rounds pill doses to nearest half pill, except for 1mg pills, which cannot be split.
5) Rounds liquid doses to volumes easily measured by families at home. (Nearest 0.2ml for doses 0-1 ml, nearest 0.5 ml for doses 1-10 ml and nearest 1 ml for doses greater than 10 ml)
6) Allows user to select up to two pill strengths of prednisone per taper.
7) Allows user to set a loading dose (strength and duration)
8) Generates a “pharmacy summary” that calculates the total number of predniSONE pills or total volume of prednisoLONE liquid needed for each 30 day period.

Notes about App operation/limitations:

1) Printing: The App creates a pdf or image of the calendar. If your mobile device is set up to communicate with a printer, then it can be printed that way. Otherwise, the output can be emailed and subsequently printed from a computer with printer access.
2) In order to remain HIPAA compliant, the App does NOT have fields for entering patient identifying information.
3) App output does NOT sync with mobile device calendars.
4) Only one or two pill sizes are allowed per step of pill-based tapers.
5) When calculating a taper by a fixed percentage, if the App calculates that the dose will repeat for two consecutive taper periods, the App will terminate the taper after the first of the duplicate taper periods.