Teresa Simpson, director of nursing at Heritage Manor in Rice Lake, pointed out a surprising benefit of their new chair scale: "It's quiet! I suppose because it is so well constructed. When you are weighing residents at 6 A.M. you don't want to go clanging down the hallways. Our old scale was so loud to transport, plus it was inaccurate at higher weights."
Silence is not the only virtue. Teresa reports, "It's easy to transport and keep clean, and it's rechargeable. It has really streamlined the whole weighing process." Streamlining the process makes life easier all around. There are 90 residents at Heritage Manor. Most are weighed weekly, some daily, and others may be weighed three times a week to monitor fluid retention.
According to an American Heart Association report,weight gain is a marker of heart failure decompensation. In a recent study, data was collected over an 18-month period from 134 case patients with a heart failure hospitalization, and 134 control patients without a heart failure hospitalization. Patients were weighed at the same time each morning after urinating, before eating or drinking, and wearing the same amount of clothing. Any weight gain of at least five pounds during the course of three days prompted a change in therapy or other appropriate action.
Why? Because the study showed that clinically important increases in body weight begin at least one week before hospitalization for heart failure. Moreover, during this time period, the risk of heart failure hospitalization increases with increasing amounts of weight gain. In contrast, weight gain was not observed before hospitalization for causes other than heart failure. The study represents basic clinical research that generates evidence to guide decision making for surveillance of weights in patients with heart failure.
In addition to weight gain, patients with heart failure may experience a range of other symptoms, including shortness of breath, fatigue, and leg swelling. Future studies will be needed that focus on the relationships between these symptoms and body weight fluctuations as they relate to heart failure.
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