Dear ListServer Folks, As a hospital pharmacist, I regret to say that, generally, true U.S. metrication of this patient data (patient height and body mass)may not yet be complete. Because American society AND American healthcare workers continue to use feet/inches and pounds on an everyday, colloquial basis, those legacy units persist strongly in the culture, and in most U.S. healthcare cultures, the legacy units continue to be the spoken units of measurement, I.e., when asked for height and weight, patients quote them in feet and pounds, and the nurse or doctor initially records them as such.
Once entered into the electronic health information system, however, they are substituted with metric measurements, and posted in kilograms and centimeters only. But they have not yet been exorcized from our midst. SI units are simply not yet “in the entire lingo“ of American healthcare. In the absence of early metric education, pounds and feet are frames of reference that we Americans are unwilling to abandon without good reason, and I fear that good reason will come in the form of a medical Mars Orbiter or Gimli Glider. Paul Trusten Midland, Texas [email protected] > On May 22, 2020, at 10:28, Michael Payne <[email protected]> wrote: > > I believe all US hospitals also use kilogram body mass and centimetres as > well as celsius. > > >> On 20 May 2020, at 22:24, Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> In the UK hospitals use metric units for height and weight measurements >> while in Australia everybody uses kilograms. Since Ancestry.com is a >> world-wide organisation, it makes sense to give users the option of either >> units. >> >> From: USMA [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael >> Payne >> Sent: 20 May 2020 06:29 >> To: USMA List Server >> Subject: [USMA 1410] Ancestry survey >> >> I recently received a survey from Ancestry.com regarding a genetic survey on >> Covid19, they want to see if anyone who’s had a DNA test with Ancestry has >> had or been exposed to Covid 19. One of the interesting aspects were when it >> got near the end of the survey they asked for your height and weight, apart >> from “American Standard” as they termed it you could choose metric which >> gave you the option of cm and kg for height and weight. >> >> Mike Payne > > _______________________________________________ > USMA mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma
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