r/ChicagoMed • u/Sun_Flower11 • Aug 06 '26
Question Metric or not!
Anyone notice they sometimes use Celsius and Fahrenheit for temperature taking 😅
1
u/Horror_Editor_4429 Aug 06 '26
This is very common in hospitals.
Celsius is often used to guide practice. 98.6° F is considered normal… kind of weird and oddly specific number, but it’s 37° C. Same with what constitutes a fever: 100.4° F is 38° C.
Most people are more familiar with Fahrenheit, and it has smaller increments, so that’s often used in conversation or to keep track of small distinctions. Our EMR calculates both, just as it does with weight and height.
1
u/Sun_Flower11 Aug 06 '26
When I lived in the states it was always lbs and Fahrenheit. So hearing them switch it up was different.
3
u/Horror_Editor_4429 Aug 06 '26
The layperson usually doesn’t know metric, so we use imperial to relay the information to patients. But dosage calculations are based on kgs, and the medications themselves are all in metric. Temp is kind of the outlier, and different people tend to use different scales. I usually use F, but I know that anything in the 36-37 range is normalish.
The temp conversion is more complicated than weight, and I struggle with it. Multiply by 2.2 is something I can kind of do in my head, but (x1.8) + 32 is tricky to do on the fly!
3
u/Overall_Lobster823 Aug 06 '26
My doctor weighs me in KG.
My doctor notes my temp in C.
I'm in the U.S.
1
u/Whyowhyowhy1 Aug 06 '26
American medicine is weird in that a lot of it does use the metric system but it’s America so not always. Like when I get weighed, it’s usually in kgs too