What factors make assessing his actual weight difficult on a daily basis?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Factors that make assessing this patient's actual weight on a daily basis difficult include possible inaccurate measurements, since this patient may have been weighed on different scales with various trips to and from the OR. Also, this patient has had various devices and equipment taken on and off of him (mechanical ventilation, wound VAC changes, drains), which may affect his weight measurements. This patient is currently experiencing edema as per the medical chart, and along with excess fluid from IV fluids and TPN is resulting in a weight that is falsely high. On the other hand, this patient has also had excessive fluid loss with the various wound VACS and drains after his surgeries. Depending on the time of day, the weight can vary based on his clinical course. Because of this, it is important to use one consistent weight for his clinical course, such as his ideal body weight or usual body weight.