In the UK many parents are told the weights of their babies in pounds and ounces even though the official record uses metric units. Of course it is believed that any medical professional will only ever consult the official records. The real problem arises if an English girl marries a Polish man and when they show their baby off to the Polish grandparents, they have to take the child in to hospital for something. Will the Polish hospital understand what “7 pounds 11 ounces” is?
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harold_Potsdamer Sent: 03 June 2014 01:46 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:53908] Re: Associations Identify Using Metric Weights as Key to Avoiding Medication Errors with Pediatric Patients Sounds like you got the royal shaft. I think they purposely like to keep the dual scale so they can tell Luddite patients their mass in pounds while they officially keep records in kilograms. I wonder what their response would be if you offered to have them changed for them or to get the ball rolling. From: [email protected] Sent: Monday, 2014-06-02 03:26 To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:53905] Re: Associations Identify Using Metric Weights as Key to Avoiding Medication Errors with Pediatric Patients I recently had a health check at my local doctor’s, and they STILL had dual marked scales. I remarked on this to the nurse who weighed me, and she said that they should have been changed long ago, but ‘nobody has come and changed them’. She weighed me in kg (65), measured my height in metres (1.71 – 6 cm less than I was 30 years ago and 3 cm less than I was 10 years ago), for a BMI of 22.2, which she was very happy about. John F-L From: Martin Vlietstra <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 02, 2014 7:31 AM To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:53904] Re: Associations Identify Using Metric Weights as Key to Avoiding Medication Errors with Pediatric Patients We had a similar problem in the United Kingdom – although patient weights were recorded in kilograms, the weighing devices themselves were often dual-scale. Until a few years ago, certain hospitals had cut corners by using domestic quality scales. (See http://www.lacors.gov.uk/lacors/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=20486 ). The British Department of Health now requires all medical practitioners use properly calibrated metric-only scales. (See http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/efa-2010-001a.pdf ). Other useful sources of information are: OIML (International Organisation for Legal Metrology) Recommendation R076: http://www.oiml.org/en/files/pdf_r/r076-1-e06.pdf UK Weighing Federation recommendations: http://www.westcoweigh.co.uk/PDFs/medical-scales.pdf . This recommendation is compatible with the OIML recommendation (pg 27). Both the above documents cite metric units only. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: 02 June 2014 04:13 To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: USMA Subject: [USMA:53903] Re: Associations Identify Using Metric Weights as Key to Avoiding Medication Errors with Pediatric Patients I note that the press release from the ENA is almost 2 years old. I wonder how things have progressed in hospitals since then. Can Julie provide as an "on the ground" update? Thanks, Ezra _____ From: [email protected] To: "USMA" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 1, 2014 8:08:56 PM Subject: [USMA:53901] Re: Associations Identify Using Metric Weights as Key to Avoiding Medication Errors with Pediatric Patients Bad link. Sorry. The extra dot near the end was the only flaw. http://www.ena.org/about/media/PressReleases/Pages/Associations.aspx ----- Message from [email protected] --------- Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 20:02:09 -0700 From: [email protected] Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:53900] Associations Identify Using Metric Weights as Key to Avoiding Medication Errors with Pediatric Patients To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Ezra. In response to your question, Julie sent (via Facebook) this link to me: http://www.ena.org/about/media/PressReleases/Pages/Associations...aspx ----- Message from [email protected] --------- Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 01:42:37 +0000 (UTC) From: [email protected] Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:53899] Re: News from the Future To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Cc: USMA <[email protected]> Is there any particular organization or other specific source for this initiative in ER nursing to weigh all patients only in kilograms? thanks, Ezra _____ From: [email protected] To: "USMA" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 1, 2014 5:54:37 PM Subject: [USMA:53897] News from the Future My friend Julie Grant Bickers a Registered Nurse in Terre Haute, Indiana responds to my blog (via Facebook) telling me about "an initiative in ER nursing that all weights on patients are to be in kg due to weight based medication dosing. We do not use pounds at all anymore. It is a step." ----- Message from Facebook <[email protected]> --------- Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2014 17:07:47 -0700 From: Facebook <[email protected]> Reply-To: Reply to Comment <e+06gwuoc000zg5axz8gi0037xi0wwcuh0000000000000000000000002n...@reply.facebook.com> Subject: Julie Grant Bickers commented on a link you shared. To: David Pearl <[email protected]> Julie wrote: "FYI.. it is an initiative in ER nursing that all weights on patients are to be in kg due to weight based medication dosing. We do not use pounds at all anymore. It is a step." - Reply to this email to comment on this link. <https://www.facebook.com/n/?david.pearl.165%2Fposts%2F327052894112009&comment_id=327053947445237&offset=0&total_comments=1&aref=14117588&medium=email&mid=9f5bd80G5af40bf38e92Gd76ad4GeG6f56&bcode=1.1401667667.Abmi5Jmq2nmWDjco&n_m=contact%40metricpioneer.com&lloc=logo> facebook <https://www.facebook...com/n/?julie.grantbickers&aref=14117588&medium=email&mid=9f5bd80G5af40bf38e92Gd76ad4GeG6f56&bcode=1.1401667667.Abmi5Jmq2nmWDjco&n_m=contact%40metricpioneer.com&lloc=image> <https://www.facebook.com/n/?julie.grantbickers&aref=14117588&medium=email&mid=9f5bd80G5af40bf38e92Gd76ad4GeG6f56&bcode=1.1401667667.Abmi5Jmq2nmWDjco&n_m=contact%40metricpioneer.com> Julie Grant Bickers commented on a <https://www.facebook.com/n/?david.pearl.165%2Fposts%2F327052894112009&comment_id=327053947445237&offset=0&total_comments=1&aref=14117588&medium=email&mid=9f5bd80G5af40bf38e92Gd76ad4GeG6f56&bcode=1.1401667667.Abmi5Jmq2nmWDjco&n_m=contact%40metricpioneer.com> link you shared. Julie wrote: "FYI.... it is an initiative in ER nursing that all weights on patients are to be in kg due to weight based medication dosing. We do not use pounds at all anymore. It is a step." Reply to this email to comment on this link. <https://www.facebook.com/n/?david.pearl.165%2Fposts%2F327052894112009&comment_id=327053947445237&offset=0&total_comments=1&aref=14117588&medium=email&mid=9f5bd80G5af40bf38e92Gd76ad4GeG6f56&bcode=1.1401667667.Abmi5Jmq2nmWDjco&n_m=contact%40metricpioneer.com&lloc=1st_cta> See Comment This message was sent to <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]. If you don't want to receive these emails from Facebook in the future, please <https://www.facebook.com/o.php?k=AS0RO49ZDiZnQmbQ&u=100004219031186&mid=9f5bd80G5af40bf38e92Gd76ad4GeG6f56> unsubscribe. 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