Weight is part of overall health and accuracy is key. Dr. Tracey Harris of Cedar Ridge Health Center in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, explained how she thinks about weight when reviewing overall patient wellness and the importance of scale accuracy. Cedar Ridge currently uses several Healthweigh® scales from Rice Lake Weighing Systems to help treat a variety of patients.
Dr. Harris has been working in healthcare since she finished high school, beginning as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) before pursuing a nursing degree. Over 20 years as a nurse, Dr. Harris worked in a variety of medical fields before obtaining a Doctorate degree in Nursing Practice (DNP). With experience in numerous areas of healthcare, Dr. Harris’s passion and current focus is on family medicine.
Why Patient Weight Matters
“While weight measurement is very important, my focus is your health. I want you to become a healthier person—whatever that looks like for you, and weight is a part of that,” Dr. Harris says. Weight gain could mean a patient is retaining fluids, but weight gain also makes it harder to breathe and can strain the heart, which is why weight is monitored more closely for patients going through dialysis or congestive heart failure.
For most patients, weight is just one piece of the puzzle, which is why Dr. Harris chooses not to make it a primary focus when working with patients on general wellness. However, some patients do benefit from having objective data, such as weight, to track their progress to reach their wellness goals, especially if they’re using a program such as Noom® or WeightWatchers®.
Dr. Harris also emphasized the need for reliable pediatric scales when treating infants and children. Many medications for children must be dosed based on weight, and parents need the reassurance of knowing their baby is healthy and growing. Moms who have never breastfed before are frequently nervous about whether their child is eating enough because it’s not something they can easily measure at home. Dr. Harris says she’ll invite new moms to come in and do a breastfeeding session. “We weigh the baby before nursing, and then we weigh the baby after, and then mom is just like, ‘I can’t believe how much that baby just ate!’”
