M Harris1, J Patterson, J Morse. 1. Emergency Medicine Residency of the Lehigh Valley, Department of Emergency Medicine, St. Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative accuracy of physicians, nurses, and parents in estimating the weight of children presenting to the emergency department. METHODS: One hundred pediatric patients between the ages of 0 and 8 years presenting to an urban teaching emergency department (40,000 patients per year) were enrolled over a 1-month period (September 1996). The parents, triage nurse, and examining physician were asked to estimate the patient's weight, each blinded to the others' estimates and the child's actual weight. RESULTS: Parents, nurses, and physicians all slightly underestimated patient weights (P < 0 .05), but these groups did not differ among themselves (P > 0 .05). The total range of estimates was broad in each group (parents +292% to -41%, nurses +30% to -36%, and physicians +43% to -56%). There was no significant relationship between estimates with regard to age, weight, or sex. Twenty-nine percent of physicians' estimates, 40% of nurses' estimates, and 16% of parents' estimates differed from the actual weight by more than 15%. CONCLUSION: Emergency department pediatric weight estimates by parents, nurses, and physicians are significantly and similarly unreliable.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative accuracy of physicians, nurses, and parents in estimating the weight of children presenting to the emergency department. METHODS: One hundred pediatric patients between the ages of 0 and 8 years presenting to an urban teaching emergency department (40,000 patients per year) were enrolled over a 1-month period (September 1996). The parents, triage nurse, and examining physician were asked to estimate the patient's weight, each blinded to the others' estimates and the child's actual weight. RESULTS: Parents, nurses, and physicians all slightly underestimated patient weights (P < 0 .05), but these groups did not differ among themselves (P > 0 .05). The total range of estimates was broad in each group (parents +292% to -41%, nurses +30% to -36%, and physicians +43% to -56%). There was no significant relationship between estimates with regard to age, weight, or sex. Twenty-nine percent of physicians' estimates, 40% of nurses' estimates, and 16% of parents' estimates differed from the actual weight by more than 15%. CONCLUSION: Emergency department pediatric weight estimates by parents, nurses, and physicians are significantly and similarly unreliable.
Authors: Jennifer Christine Knight; Muhammad Nazim; Dale Riggs; Jane Channel; Charles Mullet; Richard Vaughan; Alison Wilson Journal: Pediatr Emerg Care Date: 2011-06 Impact factor: 1.454
Authors: Yeyi Zhu; Ladia M Hernandez; Yongquan Dong; John H Himes; Laura E Caulfield; Jean M Kerver; Lenore Arab; Paula Voss; Steven Hirschfeld; Michele R Forman Journal: Public Health Nutr Date: 2018-10-18 Impact factor: 4.022