Dear Dr. Dube, As both a practicing institutional pharmacist and the Public Relations Director for the U.S. Metric Association (USMA), Inc., I congratulate AMC on its commitment to exclusive use of the metric system in recording patient height and body mass.
USMA is a non-profit, national organization, founded in 1916, and dedicated to U.S. adoption of the metric system as the Nation's primary system of meaurement. My original personal commitment to this national goal began in pharmacy school, when I had to deal with three different systems of measurement in prescription compounding. With the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's (JCAHO) national commitment to patient safety, the need to eliminate all measurement systems except metric looms larger than ever. Patients receiving heparin for anticoagulation; vancomycin and aminoglycoside pharmacokinetic dosing; and chemotherapy dosing based on body surface area might be put in considerable jeopardy if pound and kilogram values are mistaken for each other. It is my hope that your example will inspire a new JCAHO national patient safety goal of exclusive use of the metric system in U.S. healthcare patient parameters (height and weight). Sincerely, Paul Trusten, R.Ph. Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. www.metric.org 3609 Caldera Boulevard Apartment 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA (432)528-7724 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
