The saline/measurement discussion serves to remind me how much I hate the US measurement system.  If we in the USA would use the metric system like most of the rest of the world, we'd find it easy to calculate stuff like how to make normal saline.  Drug doses on my pediatric patients would be easier, since I wouldn't continuously be converting pounds to kilos, then multiplying the kilos by the mg/kg dose.

Measuring devices like cups, teaspoons, etc. often don't correspond to what their "standard" is in metric; i.e., not all teaspoons are 5 ml.  The variation is quite broad, with some studies demonstrating that a "teaspoon" ranges anywhere from 3 ml to 7-8 ml.  We pediatricians therefore usually prescribed medication by ml and instruct parents to measure it in ml-marked droppers.

Like I said above, I wish the USA would convert entirely to metric!

Linda L. Shaw MD FAAP

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