Validating the Recorded Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Actual Weight: Single Institution Study

Area of Science:

• Medical Science
• Quality Improvement
• Clinical Practice

Background:

• Accurate patient weight is essential for determining appropriate fluid replacement volumes during therapeutic apheresis.
• Variations between actual and documented weights can impact treatment efficacy and patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the concordance between actual patient body weight and the weight documented in the electronic health record (EHR).
• To determine the reliability of EHR-documented weights for calculating replacement fluid volumes in apheresis.

Main Methods:

• Prospective quality improvement project involving 37 outpatients undergoing apheresis.
• Comparison of pre-procedure actual body weight with the most recent weight recorded in the EHR.
• Calculation of weight discrepancy as a percentage, with statistical analysis (p-value).

Main Results:

• Weight discrepancies ranged from -4.7% to 22.3%.
• The mean weight discrepancy was 1.03%.
• The p-value of 0.13 indicated no statistically significant difference between actual and documented weights.

Conclusions:

• The observed weight discrepancies are not statistically significant.
• Electronic health record documented weights are reliable for calculating replacement fluid volumes in therapeutic apheresis.
• This finding supports the continued use of EHR weights for apheresis fluid management.