Body weight measurement of patients receiving nutritional support

A review of patient records over a 14-day period revealed that daily weights were recorded in only 65.5% of patients receiving parenteral nutrition and 53% of patients receiving enteral alimentation despite a hospital nursing practice requirement for daily weights during nutritional support. A semi-structured questionnaire was given to staff nurses to elicit their opinions regarding the importance of weight obtainment and to ascertain their reasons why patients are not weighted. Of 74 staff nurses who completed the survey, 68% considered weights "very important" but only 34% believed this attitude to be prevalent among their co-workers. The three reasons most often cited for failure to weigh patients were: (1) "patient too critically ill"; (2) "nurse felt other priorities of care existed; and, (3) "patient refuses." The two factors nurses most often felt should be changed to increase body weight measurement were "nurse staffing shortage" and "scales broken and/or unreliable." This study documents a need for both logistical changes (eg, equipment availability and reliability and timing of patient weights) and educational changes at both nursing staff and patient level to improve compliance with established requirements for daily weights during nutritional support.