Is There a Difference Between Home Scales and Medical Scales?
If you are like most families, you have a scale at home that you use to check on your body weight now and then, or to watch daily, a specific weight goal that you have set for yourself. These are generally in the bathroom and are purchased relatively cheap from a local store. But you may have been shocked to discover that your scale at home could be very different from the scale at your doctor’s office. Why is it that your home scale accuracy is not the same as at your doctor’s office?
There is nothing set in stone with complete certainty that a home scale is simply inaccurate, but the wide differences in measurement can be due to several inconsistencies. It is recommended that you weigh yourself at the same time of the day wearing the same clothes to avoid the major ups and downs that people often see as inconsistencies. But generally speaking, the bathroom scale or home scale is not the same high quality scale as you would see in a medical office and can verily widely in accuracy. Home scales are often mass produced and simply don’t have the same quality standards or intense calibration as do medical scales. With that in mind, it’s critical NOT to use a home scale as a medical scale in a medical facility or imaging department. They are not equal in quality or accuracy