HOUSEHOLD MEASUREMENTS
Household measurements are used for liquid medications that are given to patients
in the home setting. An example is two teaspoons of cough medication. Nurses
encounter household measurements when providing home healthcare services and
when determining a patient’s fluid intake and output in the hospital setting. Nurses
also use pounds when calculating a dose that is based on a patient’s weight.
Patients should use measuring spoons for medication administration at home
and avoid using tableware.
Patients are usually more comfortable self-administering medication if the
dose is in household measurements. However, medication is recorded using metric
measurements. Therefore, a nurse must be able to convert household measure-
ments to metric measurements.
Let’s say that the patient drinks an 8-ounce glass of orange juice. The nurse
must convert that to milliliters (mL) or cubic centimeters (cc) in order to record the
intake volume in the patient’s fluid input and output chart. (Remember 1 mL = 1 cc.)
Table 7-3 contains commonly used conversion factors for household mea-
surement and metric measurement.
CHAPTER 7 Dose Calculations^115
Household System Metric System
Weight
2.2 pounds (lb) 1 kilogram (kg)
Volume
1 ounce 30 mL = 30 cc
16 ounces 500 mL = 500 cc
32 ounces 1000 mL = 1000 cc
1 liter 1000 mL = 1000 cc
Household Measurement
60 drops (gtt) 1 teaspoon (tsp)
1 teaspoon (tsp) 5 mL = 5 cc
1 tablespoon (tbs) 15 mL = 15 cc
2 tablespoons (tbs) 1 ounce = 30 mL = 30 ccTable 7-3. Commonly used conversion factors for household
measurement and metric measurement.