Pediatric Emergency Medicine Journal  2016;3(1):9-14

Methods of weight estimation in pediatric resuscitation.

Jae Yun JUNG 1 ; Hyuksool KWON ; Yoo Jin CHOI

Affiliations

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Keywords

Body Weight; Child; Emergency Service, Hospital; Infant; Resuscitation

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

Knowing a pediatric patient's weight is crucial in resuscitation since the decision on the dose of resuscitation drug and the size of the instrument is made mostly based on a patient's weight. However, using a scale may not always be practical in resuscitation. Therefore, it is important to know the methods of weight estimation in resuscitation. The weight estimation can be performed based on various factors: visual assessment, age, height, and body habitus. One of the most common problems of these methods is that the weight tends to be underestimated as a patient's age increases. This is due to an inappropriate reflection of body habitus. Further research is needed to overcome this problem.