Also, both height and weight are needed to use nomograms to determine body surface area and body mass index. 2 Formulas such as the Cockcroft-Gault, which is used to estimate creatinine clearance to aid in the dosing of medications, and the Harris-Benedict formula, which is used to calculate basal metabolic rate, rely on accurate patient weights. Oncology, elderly, pediatric, and neonatal patients are at greater risk for adverse drug events because they are more vulnerable to the effects of an error and their weight may change frequently over short periods of time. A prescribed or dispensed medication dose can differ significantly from the appropriate dose because of a missing or inaccurate patient weight. 1 One vital piece of patient information, the patient’s weight, is especially important because it is used to calculate the appropriate dose of a medication (e.g., mg/kg, mcg/ kg, mg/m2). Accurate patient information (e.g., age, allergies, laboratory results) helps practitioners select appropriate medications, doses, and routes of administration.
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