Poor patient weight recording may lead to inaccurate prescribing

A new study by Imperial College has shown that patient weight is not recorded inaround 46% of admissions, despite its importance for safe prescribing.

The cross-sectional study by Esmita Charani and her team looked at patient medication charts, nursing and medical notes for evidence of weight and height recording together with all the medication prescribed for the patients.

The team found that weight was not recorded for 46% of the 1012 patients included in the study. Despite the clinical importance of body weight measurement it is poorly recorded in hospitalised patients. In antibiotics a correct, recent patient weight is required for accurate dosing and to keep drugs within the narrow therapeutic index, to ensure efficacy of prescribing and reduce toxicity.

An observational study on the weight recording process was also conducted to add context to the data. This study showed that the most frequent barrier to proper weight recording was interruption to the admissions process.

At present, despite the simplicity of body weight measurement, there are no simple interventions to improve the rate of patient weight recording in hospitals.