My wife is a MD and at least at her hospital (Staten Island, NY) temperature
and weight is measured in ffu and then converted to SI. All charts and
especially those in ER are SI only.
I wonder if this is the case in other hospitals too. I will ask some
friends.
Needless to say, that I have no ideea why they don't measure in SI to begin
with.
A.
-----Original Message-----
From: kilopascal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday 15 March 2001 23:44
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:11649] Re: the Celsius-less nurse
2001-03-15
The hospital administrators don't care. They themselves will push for FFU,
because they are part of the innumerate masses. They aren't going to
"frightened" by bogey-man scare tactics of some hypothetical accident based
on someone doctor or whatever converting pounds to kilograms wrong. If it
hasn't happened yet, it their mind it won't happen or if it does it isn't
often enough to cause alarm.
As for lawsuits, hospitals and doctors are sued all the time. It is
routine. They are use to it. And as for the $ or the -$, their insurance
carrier pays the settlements. Which of course the hospitals and doctors pay
higher premiums, but they pass those costs on to you. You pay for that
"comfort" of your doctor or hospital dealing with you in pounds and inches.
You pay out of your pocket even if your employer has an insurance plan. And
more and more you pay out of your pocket. When your company "upgrades" your
plan with higher deductibles, higher copays, higher payroll deductions,
lower limits on expenditures before the plan cuts you off.
And if you or your loved one is a victim of an error, that's ok, you are
expendable. Those doctors and administrators make sure those mistakes are
not made on their loved ones. They take extra pre-cautions.
The only way to change this is for an across the board law that would
require hospitals to operate strictly in SI. And unless someone with power
of pull loses a loved one because of an error in converting pounds to
kilograms, no one is even going to take the time to even debate the issue.
What I want to know, is how many accidents occur daily due to conversion
errors? How many lawsuits have been filed and won, and what has the dollar
value been? And how many more were covered up and blamed on something or
someone else?
Anyone want to venture a guess?
John
Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrtümlich glaubt
frei zu sein.
There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they
are free!
----- Original Message -----
From: "James J. Wentworth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, 2001-03-15 19:35
Subject: [USMA:11644] Re: the Celsius-less nurse
> Paul, you have to use units that hospital administrators, nurses and
doctors
> *really* understand: the ones with a $ preceding them. They especially
pay
> attention to a $ with a "-" preceding it. How's this for inspiration to
> hospitals to use kg and cm only:
>
> "Mr./Ms. Chairman/Chairwoman of the hospital board, do you willingly
intend
> to keep an accident enabling factor (use of lb. and in.) that could easily
> result in an accident that would trigger expensive lawsuits?! [Follow
this
> with actual examples.] Which is cheaper to deal with, patients whining
> about getting their weights and heights in metric units or having to pay a
> court settlement to a dead patient's family?"
>
>
> Jason
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Paul Trusten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: U.S. Metric Association <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 11:44 AM
> Subject: [USMA:11636] the Celsius-less nurse
>
>
> >
> > I'm afraid that there are many healthcare professionals who are ignorant
> > of the Celsius temperature scale. If you should happen across a
> > pharmacist who is ignorant of it, that would be a tragedy.
> >
> > Recently, I was instrumental in getting a form changed at my hospital so
> > that it no longer requests the patient weight in pounds OR kilograms.
> > Sadly, I could only get it changed to pounds, but at least that may
> > prevent someone from entering a lb. figure when kg were meant, or vice
> > versa. It is possible for someone to weigh over 100 kg, so, let us say,
> > the number 128 could mean either a trim person (lb.) or a very obese
> > person (kg). If someone writes 128 kg but means pounds, the dose of a
> > drug could be calculated which is far in excess of the correct dose for
> > that patient. Funny thing is, even with the "kg" box gone, nurses will
> > still go ahead and write the kg weight in, giving the proper units (kg).
> > IMHO, It is a cavalier attitude about measurement systems that could be
> > dangerous.
> >
> > I maintain that the adoption of SI in the United States, even on a small
> > scale (healthcare), requires, first of all, inspiration. It has to be a
> > matter of motivation, and it has to be across all sectors of a group or
> > an organization. If we can instill fear everywhere, such as the fear we
> > generated over Y2K, we should be able to instill knowledge (of SI) as
> > well. We can't have just a few people in one enterprise devoted to the
> > use of one standard of measurement when too many others just do not
> > care.
> > --
> > Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
> > 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apt. 122
> > Midland TX 79707-2872 USA
> > (915)-694-6208
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
>
