Response to Criticism

[WhiteEagle]

Questions regarding PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch)  involving the heart make perfect sense.  As a Mechanical Design Engineer with extensive experience designing medical equipment I know that standards and measurements from one discipline must be converted into meaningful information for another disapline such as engineering.  The responder who converted bloodpressure readings into psi was on the right track.  


This discussion is related to PSI of the Human.

[ed34]

Well I'm lost lol. I was under the impression that mercury manometers were the first accurate measuring devices for pressure. You can read pressure in any scale you would like to invent in theory. Just like we have centigrade or other methods for measuring temperature. Can it be apples and oranges when both are in regards to the same thing? i.e. pressure?
Both can be used in controlling (increasing or decreasing) pressure, so how are they incompatible?

[Occupant]

1mm HG represents 0.0193368 PSI and 0.133 kPa, it is simply a physical measurement that can easily be converted from one unit to the other. Just because it was convenient a long time ago to use Mercury in the gauges doesn't mean it now has become a sacred cow. The reason why mmHg is still used in Europe is because the unit Pascal refers to the absolute pressure and PSI does not, otherwise it would be PSIa.

[erijon]

Well, I think that one must consider the source when coming to an online website for medical information. This forum is a support group, nothing more. We try to discourage members from giving medical advice and I will in fact ask that posts that cross that line be deleted.

I think it's good to share experiences but the treatment aspect must be kept between a trained professional and the patient. Using a site like this for support or to gain an understanding I think is helpful. Many members here have common experiences, nothing wrong with sharing.

There is a forum here where members can ask a doctor on the expert forum.

[louietheliger]

I am just shocked by the (perhaps) well-meaning, but remarkably irresponsible responses posted on this site, by obviously non-medical (or incompetent if they are) people.  Responses related to this particular question probably presented no harm and was just someone trying to get their head around something.  I agree about trying to convert information from one field to another in a meaningful way, but that does not mean one can convert apples to oranges if there is no meaningful correlation - sometimes they are just apples and oranges, so put that fact into context and accept the limitations it presents.  But some people are responding to medical questions which, in all fairness, should be presented to medical professionals, not an online site for amateurs, but still...  people speculating about how easy it is to remove sternal wires "it's an easy procedure", or saying, "I've never heard of an elevated temperature having any effect on someone with a thoracic aneurysm".... Really, it is frightening.  

Cheers!

[erijon]

You are completely correct. I remember this thread from several years ago, it is in response to a different thread in which I argued this point with a previous member and CL here. My argument was the same, one is a measurement and the other is an action of force, where were you a couple years ago when I needed the backup:)

[louietheliger]

Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHG), a standard of measurement.  PSI stands for pounds of pressure per square inch exerted (usually via syringe), an action.  One is used to measure an action, the other to to create an action (inject).  They do not correlate, therefore, are not interchangeable.

[skydnsr]

I did not see the original post and am not saying anything about that, one way or the other, but it seems logical on the face of it that the usual mmHG mode of measuring bp could be converted into psi.

[sallymustang20]

as a cat scan tech that uses 300psi to inject iv contrast this is a very important questions, imagine what could happen to a person with that kind of pressure injected into their veins and artieries