Estimating patient weights is an outdated process to obtain a patient weight that has led to critical dosing errors for patients. Learn more about the problems with estimating patient weights and how Hinckley Medical’s OneWeight system will solve these problems.
A variety of methods have been used to estimate patient weights throughout the history of EMS. As the EMS industry continues to evolve, more weight-based drugs are being introduced to the ambulance. While relying on things like patients’ self-reported weights and the Broselow tape have been used in the past, the inaccuracies provide significant concern.
In a study conducted by Sheila Sotherlund through the Irving (TX) Fire Department, they found that EMS providers’ weight estimates were outside of the critical dosing accuracy range in nearly half (43%) of patients. This study showed that there is still under and overdosing in a pre-hosptial setting. In the study, it was hypothesized that EMS providers would be more skilled with more experience in the field. Although, there was no correlation in the findings; the inexperienced performed similarly to the experienced. In one case cited in Colorado, a paramedic dosed a patient with ketamine for 200 lbs and the patient turned out to be 143 lbs. This overdose of ketamine is believed to have played a role in the patient’s death.
Hinckley Medical’s OneWeight scale eliminates the need for EMS providers to estimate patient weights in the pre-hospital setting. The findings in the study show that there is a need for this device in uncontrolled environments with only 57% of patients reaching the critical dosing error of within 5% of the patients’ measured weight. Especially in traumatic scenarios such as the Colorado case and dosing the patient with ketamine.
Source:
Sotherlund, Sheila, et al. “A Study of Weight Approximation by Practicing EMS Providers.” Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS), Irving (TX) Fire Department, 6 May 2022, https://www.jems.com/patient-care/a-study-of-weight-approximation-by-practicing-ems-providers/.