Title: Re: [USMA:34525] Re: hospital inpatient computer system eliminates non-metric units
Dear Paul, Terry, and All,
A common device in Australia for measuring orally administered drugs is a small funnel shaped cup that is marked from 1 mL to 20 mL. As it is tapered it is obviously more accurate near the bottom for lower doses and less accurate near the top.
The top is just wide enough for the measuring container to also be used as a small cup to drink the medication directly from it, after it has been measured.
These measuring funnel cups are injection moulded; they are dishwasher safe; and they are cheap enough to be given away with oral mixtures. In fact, they are so cheap that most household now have several of them around the house from past prescriptions of oral medications. I also know that some people keep them for use in measuring small amounts of cooking ingredients in their kitchens.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216
Geelong, Australia
61 3 5241 2008
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.metricationmatters.com
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on 2005-09-19 00.00, Paul Trusten, R.Ph. at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Terry, an excellent question. No, a measuring device is NOT always provided,
> and with all the myriad laws, rules, and regulations we have in pharmacy,
> such a peppering people with a patient package insert with every refill,
> surely there is no law that a tube be dispensed with every oral liquid
> medication. I think perhaps the cost would be less than a few additional
> dollars, for, say, at $75 antibiotic suspension. Thank you, Terry. I think I
> shall add your suggestion as part of my campaign.
>
> What it amounts to, after patient education occurs, is, "duh?" If you have
> a label that says "give (or take) 5 mL by mouth . . .,", and a measuring
> tube spoon that reads 1 mL to 10 mL, all one needs to do is to fill the tube
> up to the 5 mL mark, and there is no doubt as to the correct dose.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Terry Simpson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2005 07:30
> Subject: [USMA:34524] Re: hospital inpatient computer system eliminates
> non-metric units
>
>
>>> Of Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
>>> the temptation on the part of U.S. patients will be to ask,
>>> "What is that in teaspoonsful?"
>>> But, as time goes on, the metric measure will be promoted by
>>> physician, pharmacist, and nurse, and the patient provided
>>> with a dosing tube to measure the dose volume in milliliters only.
>>> I'm working on this as we speak.
>>
>> The issue of correct self dosing of liquid is not unique to metric units.
> I
>> thought liquid medicines for delivery by non-medical staff always came
> with
>> a measuring device. I tried to find official guidance or regulation but
> did
>> not succeed. Can you clarify whether a measuring device is always
> provided?
>>
>>
>> My search revealed these articles that I think are interesting:
>>
>> http://www.pjonline.com/ijpp/Abstracts/200306/105.html
>> 48.6% of parents measured the correct dose (+/- 0.5 ml) with a syringe.
>>
>> http://www.pjonline.com/pdf/papers/pj_20030816_riskmanagement.pdf
>> "With viscous medicines such as Calpol that a 5 ml medicine spoon may
>> contain anywhere between 3.29 and 7.43 ml depending on what level it is
>> filled to" [see article for interesting comment about measuring cups too].
>>
>>
>
