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WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: Medical Scales, Accuracy, and Safety

WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: Medical Scales, Accuracy, and Safety
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WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: Medical Scales, Accuracy, and Safety - 1

Scales are a necessary piece of equipment for all medical facilities. A patient’s weight provides vital information for detecting fluid retention, calculating proper medication dosages, and screening for malnutrition. Properly maintaining a patient scale ensures accurate and consistent patient weight readings, which are critical to consistent, effective patient outcomes. Conversely, miscalibrated or inaccurate scales can cause inconsistencies that can lead to improper treatment. This is especially relevant in environments where multiple scales are used with patients, as miscalibrated scales will record results differently than properly calibrated scales. A study of nearly 8,000 patient scales in 200 hospitals showed more than a third of all scales tested were inaccurate.1 Another study found that more than 15 percent of tested scales showed an average inaccuracy greater than 6 pounds.2 In one state alone, 479 medication errors in a single year were attributed to inaccurate patient weights.3 The only way to guard against inaccuracies in patient scales is regular inspection and calibration. Calibration helps ensure that scales are accurate and consistent — essential when using weight to track patient health or determine medication dosing. A PROFESSIONAL WHITE PAPER SPONSORED BY 1 Evans L., C. Best C “Accurate Assessment of Patient Weight." Nursing Times, 2014. 110:12, p 12-14. 2 Stein, Risa, PhD; C. Keith Haddock, PhD; Walker S.C. Poston, PhD, MPH; Dana Catanese; John A. Spertus, MD. “Precision in Weighting: A Comparison of Scales Found in Physician Offices, Fitness Centers, and Weight Loss Centers." Public Health Reports; May-June 2005, p 266-270. 3 “Medication Errors: Significance of Accurate Patient Weights." Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory, March 2009.

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WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: Medical Scales, Accuracy, and Safety - 2

WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: MEDICAL SCALES, ACCURACY AND SAFETY How Scale Accuracy Affects Patient Safety Inaccurate scales can cause more than frustration. Some medications, particularly for renal disease and some cancers, are dosed by weight. An inaccurate weight can lead to a patient getting too little — or too much — medication, resulting in a non-therapeutic or potentially harmful dose. Surveying four years of state health event reports, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority found 479 instances of medication errors resulting from inaccurate weight. Sixty-seven percent resulted in...

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WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: Medical Scales, Accuracy, and Safety - 3

WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: MEDICAL SCALES, ACCURACY AND SAFETY An investigation of scale precision within a variety of settings found scales that had not been calibrated in the previous year were 150 percent more imprecise than scales calibrated in the last year. Factors related to scale precision (N=223) based on 250.0 lbs. (113.6 kg) test6 Of the scales tested, 72% had not been calibrated in the last year. The inaccuracy of these uncalibrated scales was more than 150% greater than that of the group that had been calibrated during the previous year.” How and when should I calibrate my...

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WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: Medical Scales, Accuracy, and Safety - 4

WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: MEDICAL SCALES, ACCURACY AND SAFETY Proving Calibration with “Traceable” Certified Weights What do I need to keep our scales calibrated? When calibrating a scale, an operator uses a weight of a known value to compare the scale reading to the known weight, then records the result. If necessary, the scale is adjusted to accurately assess and display that known value. Some scales’ hardware or firmware will automatically make this adjustment; others may require mechanical adjustment or tuning. When calibrating a scale, the operator should follow the...

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WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: Medical Scales, Accuracy, and Safety - 5

WHY CALIBRATION MATTERS: MEDICAL SCALES, ACCURACY AND SAFETY Determine responsibility and governance Decide who should ensure that scales (and other instruments, as needed) are calibrated. This may be an internal team, such as biomedical services, facilities, or a standards department. Your facility may also decide to outsource calibration to a contracted service provider. Establish frequency Set a regular, predictable schedule for calibration. While the medical profession in the United States has not officially adopted the NIST and U.S. Department of Commerce Calibration regulations, many...

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