Paul do you have a reference I can download and take to my doctor listing the
preference for kilogram body mass.
Mike Payne
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Trusten
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Sunday, 23 May 2010 05:05
Subject: [USMA:47415] Re: Using metric at the doctor
Carleton,I wish you the same thing Ezra did.
Wih regard to your question about healthcare professionals converting back to
traditional units for height and weight, here we are dealing with a cultural
matter. In the U.S., traditional units ought to stop at the hospital's front
door, but usually they don't. People are allowed to bring their pounds and feet
into the building and get those pounds and feet documented in the medical
record. Only a minority of U.S. hospitals and medical offices have a metric
culture with regard to patient height and weight (the Austin Medical Center in
Minnesota comes to mind) . By metric culture, I mean that only metric units
are reported. For example, to do this, only metric scales should be used to
measure height and weigtht, and the readings reported as seen. Conversion back
to traditinal units should not be allowed, and certainly not documented.
I am a practicing hospital phamacist, and not only do I share your opinion
that only metric units should be used, I am constantly having to convert pounds
and feet/inches into kilograms and centimeters to do my work safely. Many
drugs are dosed on a mg/kg of body weight basis; on mg/m^2 body surface area;
and I believe that the retention of two systems of measurement is somewhat
dangerous. The Institute for Safe Medication Practice (ISMP), a very
influential medication safety organization, feels the same way concerning
medications. Last year, ISMP posted a recommendation that the prescribing of
medication should be metricated right down the line, from the writing of teh
prescription to the advising of the patient at the pharmacy consultation window
(see attachment).
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
Public Relations Director
U.S. Metric Association, Inc.
----- Original Message -----
From: [email protected]
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: 22 May, 2010 19:03
Subject: [USMA:47409] Re: Using metric at the doctor
Best of luck, Carleton! Hope all turns out well for you ...
Ezra
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carleton MacDonald" <[email protected]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 4:37:01 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [USMA:47407] Using metric at the doctor
The past few weeks, I’ve been seeing doctors more often than normal, as my
urologist discovered some prostate cells that don’t belong there and wants to
take the whole thing out. There’s been a lot of pre-surgical work done by my
regular doctor and a cardiologist as well.
Invariably, they ask for my “weight” (sorry) and height. I give it to them
as 178 cm and 102 kg, indicating that this is the only way I know either.
· The urologist’s nurse took the information with no comment, and
just wrote down what I said.
· My regular doctor took it, but converted.
· The cardiologist’s nurse took it, and converted.
· The catheterization nurse (male) was visibly upset, and made a
point of using his iPhone to convert to colonial units. I commented to him
that this was a medical procedure and I thought all medical procedures and
records used metric only (in a manner that expressed an opinion that if they
don’t, they should be).
I used to be with Kaiser Permanente through 2006, until my employer took
away that option. In the last couple of years they were converting all their
records to metric, if I recall.
Still a long way to go.
Carleton
P.S. The operation will be in a couple of weeks.
