How to measure patient weight using a bed scale
Without the right tools, measuring bedbound patients can be a challenging task!
If a patient is unable to leave the bed to stand and measure weight using a floor scale, or cannot sit to use a chair scale, then another safe option is to measure them while they're lying in bed. There are two ways to do this using a professional bed scale!
Short-term use
While the patient is lying in bed, you can push the bed onto a bed scale. The total displayed weight will now be "patient weight" + "bed weight". If you know the weight of the bed, simply deduct this from the final result to determine patient weight!
For example, if the weight of the bed is 40 kg, and the total weight is 90 kg, then you know the patient weight is 50 kg.
The Charder MS60-series bed scales have a pre-tare function that help you do this automatically, reducing the risk of miscalculation or error.
Setup
Weight is 0.0 before bed is pushed onto scale
Push bed onto scale. Weight of bed can now be seen and saved in scale. Up to 10 bed weights can be saved in memory. This is useful if you have to regularly bring the scale to different rooms, and have multiple bed styles/mattresses, each with a different weight!
Before use, select correct bed weight, so its weight will be automatically deducted from final result
Measurement
When you push bed+patient onto bed scale, the displayed result will be the patient's weight!
Long-term use
Another less common, but more convenient option is available if you have one bed scale semi-permanently installed under each bed. If this is the case, simply press "tare" after the bed has been pushed onto the scale to deduct its weight. "0.0" will be displayed, and now when a patient lies down on the bed, the result displayed on the screen is the weight of the patient.
Patient weight is a key indicator used for health evaluation and other purposes, including determination of medication dosage, so it's important to make sure every patient is regularly measured! For patients that have special needs, a variety of different Charder scales are available. Please contact us if you have any questions!
Weight Change Alarm
Charder's bed scales feature a "weight change alarm" function. If patient's weight exceeds the lower or upper limit, an alarm will beep to warn medical staff.
This is particularly important when the patient's condition involves high volumes of fluid, such as in dialysis! Continuous measurement using a Bed Scale is very useful in such cases, as the body cannot contain too much or too little fluid, and the automatic weight change alarm makes it easier for medical staff to monitor excessive weight change.
This can be combined by "dry weight" methods of determining treatment completion - set the dry weight as the alarm limit, and as soon as the weight is reached, the audible warning will sound and treatment can be stopped, so medical staff don’t have to constantly check the display.
Patient weight is a key indicator used for health evaluation and other purposes, including determination of medication dosage, so it's important to make sure every patient is regularly measured! For patients that have special needs, a variety of different Charder scales are available. Please contact us if you have any questions!
A video guide to Charder's bed scales can be viewed below!
