Gaithersburg, Maryland, home of NIST: 1. My doctor's office (Kaiser). Balance scales are in lb. Baby scale can have the balance flipped over to read kg. Conversion chart on wall (lb to kg) next to stand up scale. Mommies all want the weight in lb. For anyone older than a baby, nurses write it that way.
2. Vet's office. Scale is dual, controlled by a switch. Vet assistant wants it in lb and oz and gets irritated if you want it the other way. Wonder how they dose the medicine. A long way to go still. Carleton -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Bill Hooper Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 02:45 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:28895] Re: Doctors' scales My doctor's scale (here in Florida, USA) is a dual (switchable) digital scale. A my recent visit last week, the nurse asked me to step on the scale so she could determine my weight. The scale was set to read pounds and the nurse recorded that value. I looked for, and easily found, a button labeled "lb/kg" which, of course, I pushed, saying something like "Let's see what that is in kilograms". The reading changed immediately to kilograms (75 kg, in case you're interested). The nurse looked at that reading without comment but did not mark it down. I courteously pressed the little button again to switch it back to pounds. Afterward I said to myself: "Why the hell did I do that?" I guess this confirms that doctor's in the US are not yet doing much of weighing patients in kilograms, but it appears they have the equipment to make the change easily any time they want to. Regards, Bill Hooper Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA PS May I suggest to us all that when we report things like "how it's done here where I live" that you remind us where you live.
