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How accurately do we estimate patients' weight in emergency departments?
C M Fernandes1, S Clark, A Price
1Department of Emergency Medicine, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC. cfernand@unixg.ubc.ca
Objective:
To assess the accuracy of estimates of patients' weight made by physicians, nurses, and patients themselves in emergency departments.
Design:
Observational prospective study.
Setting:
Tertiary referral centre in Vancouver, BC.
Participants:
Eleven attending physicians, 26 nurses, and a convenience sample of 117 patients.
Interventions:
Patients themselves, attending physicians, and nurses independently estimated the weight of 117 patients. An investigator weighed each patient.
Main Outcome Measures:
Mean error was determined by subtracting actual weight from estimated weight and dividing by actual weight; 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated.
Results:
Mean error in estimates was 3.1% (95% CI 2.7 to 3.5) for patients, 8.4% for nurses (CI 7.6 to 9.2), and 8.1% (CI 7.1 to 9.1) for physicians. Weight was estimated within 5% of actual weight by 32% of nurses, 39% of physicians, and 82% of patients. Weight was estimated within 10% of actual weight by 66% of nurses, 66% of physicians, and 97% of patients. Estimates out by more than 15% were made by 11% of nurses, 16% of physicians, and 1% of patients.
Conclusions:
Patient estimates were most accurate. Physician and nurse estimates were unreliable.