I'm not a particularly strong advocate one way or the other on this, but if
it were deemed to be sufficienlty important for medical practice to move to
kPa for blood pressure then there are ways to address the issue raised here
by Scot.
The unit mm Hg is of course the actual height of the column of mercury in
that type of instrument. The scale doesn't have to be marked in mm though.
It could be marked with the kPa equivalent. Alternatively, to avoid wasting
perfecty serviceable kit, existing ones could have a conversion chart stuck
on the inside of the case.
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Hudnall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 4:43 AM
Subject: [USMA:35650] Re: blood pressure kPa
I think I¹m about to commit SI heresy here but I am in favor of keeping
blood pressure being reported in mm Hg for a simple reason: disaster
planning. Although it is a laudable goal to have pressure reported in actual
units of pressure, I think that planning for emergencies is a compelling
reason to report indirect measurement reading without conversion.
Raw data from various electronic monitoring equipment is converted to
display some output (whether in mm Hg or kPa). The raw data will look
different, depending on the material and calibration of the load cell used
to take the measurement. However, when the power goes out for an extended
period of time (such as after a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami et cetera),
hospitals and doctors have to pull the old low-tech manual equipment out and
take measurements in mm Hg. In an emergency, a doctor/emergency responder
may have to ³field train² whoever is available, to assist in processing
casualties. This person may not have the math skills necessary to properly
convert units but they can be easily trained to take a direct reading of
mm Hg off the gauge.
--
Scott Hudnall
From: Stan Jakuba <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 08:29:50 -0500
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:35647] Re: blood pressure kPa
So did the Russians (the Soviet Union, that is) some 30 years ago. Whether
the Russians and all the break-away republics continue the practice today, I
do not know.
Stan Jakuba
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert H. Bushnell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: 06 Jan 11, Wednesday 21:25
Subject: [USMA:35644] blood pressure kPa
2006 January 11
Refer to Trusten and USMA 35637
I am told the Chinese use kilopascal for blood pressure.
My acupuncture person told me. She is Chinese; learned
acupuncture in Beijing. They even have a simple conversion of
mm Hg to kPa. Simply divide by 7.5. This is close enough
for the rest of us to use it.
Robert Bushnell PhD PE
