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Thank you, all, for responding to my query about changing the
units of blood pressure from mm Hg to kPa.
The question is really theoretical, and is part of the ongoing
debate on how far SI should go in permeating world metrology. To
suddenly impose a change to kilopascals of blood pressure
without the general assent of the healthcare community, along with formal,
universal re-education of healthcare professionals, would be very
impractical, much the same as it is impractical for physicians to write
antipyretic dosing parameters for Celsius fevers when there are almost no
Celsius fever thermometers available. Linda Bergeron's comment on suddenly
having to interpret kPa during an emergency is most relavant.
In terms of the emotional component of this, changing BP to
kPa for healthcare professionals is like changing U.S. football
yards to meters for U.S. football players and observers. Also, since the
unit of length of the column of mercury is already in millimeters and not in
inches, it would be hard for the argue that it was part of a changeover from
non-metric units, which are the truly "conventional" U.S. units.
However, I could see kPa blood pressure becoming a reality if
there was a global healthcare push for advancing the use of SI. This would
have to occur through an international agreement among healthcare entities, and
such discussions should certainly include the hardware and software
manufacturers and developers. Then, formal re-education of the global healthcare
community would have to take place. Even so, the need for the setting of purer
measurement standards would have to be weighed against the need to preserve
patient safety.
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
U.S. Metric Association, Inc. www.metric.org Editor, "Metric Today" 3609 Caldera Blvd., Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] "There are two cardinal sins, from which all
the others spring: impatience and laziness." ---Franz Kafka |
