The provision of a 5 ml spoon or a cup with 10 ml, 15 ml and 20 ml graduations with medicines is standard in the UK
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James R. Frysinger Sent: 14 January 2010 15:35 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:46405] A spoonful of medicine This LA Times article appeared in today's Tennessean (Nashville). It's good to see this advice being published. Jim January 14, 2010 A spoonful of medicine may be too much, or not enough By Amina Khan LOS ANGELES TIMES "Heaping" teaspoon or "level"? That's the nail-biting dilemma that usually confronts amateur boulangeries as they mix baking soda or salt into their cake batter. In medicine, though, the unreliability of your average spoon - and by average spoon, we mean a tool more commonly used to stir sugar into coffee - can create far more serious problems. In a study in the Jan. 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers asked student patients at the Cornell University health clinic to pour out 5 milliliters of cold medicine into different-size kitchen spoons. The researchers found that participants expressed confidence in their measuring abilities, and yet "underdosed by 8.4 percent when using the medium-size spoon and overdosed by 11.6 percent when using the larger spoon." That may sound minimal, but consider someone who's making that same mistake three to five times a day for a seven-day regimen. That can add up. Overdosing can mean nasty and troublesome side effects. Underdosing - on an antibiotic, for example - can lead to drug-resistant bacteria, ultimately rendering the medication ineffective. The lesson? Use a proper device - a measuring cap, a syringe or a dosing spoon - to make that medicine go down. And parents, before you pour any liquid into your kid's spoon (accurate or not), make sure you have the proper dose for your child's age and weight. Source: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100114/FEATURES04/1140313/A+spoonful+of+ medicine+may+be+too+much++or+not+enough -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108
