Lab reports contain a perpetual tutorial of sorts. To the right of the list of patient results is a list of ranges for the corresponding values. So, that felliw can work in Canada comfortably.
BTW, the US does use mmol/L for some levels, just not all if ghdn. Paul Trusten, Reg. Pharmacist Vice President U.S. Metric Association, Inc. Midland, Texas USA www.metric.org +1(432)528-7724 [email protected] On May 19, 2013, at 20:03, Remek Kocz <[email protected]> wrote: > Apparently there were efforts to harmonize the lab values used in the US labs > with those used by the rest of the world. Never worked out. In medical > school, during the first two didactic years, both the "US" and "SI" are still > taught, but once medical students enter their clinical years, everything is > in "US" values. Some European countries use these values as well, so this is > not just our problem here. > > This reminds me of one of the residents telling me why he wouldn't want to > work in Canada. One of the major reasons was having to relearn all the lab > values, which are SI over there. > > > On Sun, May 19, 2013 at 6:46 PM, James Frysinger <[email protected]> > wrote: >> I'm inclined to agree with what you and John Steele are saying -- that the >> prefixed denominator is what causes the article's author(s) to deem the >> first example non-SI. >> >> Of course, denominators with prefixed units are not banned in the SI, they >> just are not the preferred format. >> >> Jim >> >> >> On 2013-05-19 16:54, Paul Trusten wrote: >>> Jim, it is weird. Call it an American affectation. From what I can gather >>> from my brief study of medical laboratory science, there is a US use of >>> laboratory units that differs from those in the rest of the world. I think >>> the difference lies in the perception in the US that if SI *BASE* units are >>> used in expressing the concentration of the substance being measured, the >>> LABORATORY units are considered to be SI, while the units used in the US >>> are "not" SI. I think that if they knew what they were talking about, they >>> would say "non-US," not "non-SI." Actually, I think (I could be wrong) that >>> the US units are called either "US" or "standard." >>> >>> For example, the unit used to measure blood glucose in American labs is >>> mg/dL, while outside the US, it is mmol/L. Blood glucose meters usually >>> have a switch on them to allow the patient to toggle betwee mg/dL and >>> mmol/L, presumably depending upon the country of usage. >>> >>> So, it is SI to them only if they use an SI base unit (mol) in the >>> numerator of the concentration. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. >>> It just seems to me the keepers of the medical laboratory units may need to >>> brush up on how SI is applied. >>> >>> >>> Paul Trusten, Reg. Pharmacist >>> Vice President >>> U.S. Metric Association, Inc. >>> Midland, Texas USA >>> www.metric.org >>> +1(432)528-7724 >>> [email protected] >>> >>> >>> On May 19, 2013, at 15:55, James Frysinger <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> I was doing some research for my sister's use of vitamin B12 supplements >>>> and came to this page: >>>> http://www.webmd.com/diet/vitamin-b12-15239?page=2 >>>> >>>> It contains a small chart: >>>> Vitamin B12Normal: >>>> More than 200-835 picograms per milliliter (pg/mL) >>>> 148-616 picomoles per liter (pmol/L) (SI units) >>>> >>>> Interestingly, WebMD apparently considers picomoles per liter to be in SI >>>> units but picograms per milliliter not to be in SI units. >>>> >>>> Of course, the non-SI unit is the liter (or milliliter) but that's >>>> acceptable for use with the SI. So, in my mind neither value statement is >>>> "more SI" than the other. >>>> >>>> How do you view this, Paul Trusten? >>>> >>>> Jim >
