Converting blood glucose measurements US > CA: case

Scenario

A young man tells me he would like to be able to convert US blood glucose levels (milligrams per deciliter: mg/DL) to Canadian (millimoles per liter: mmol/L).

Resolution

After much searching in various resources, and finally Google, I am able to find an online converter from Lifescan Inc., the people who make the OneTouch® System for monitoring blood glucose levels.

I would like to make it clear that I am in no way endorsing their products (I am not qualified to make any judgement about them), and usually I prefer to avoid information offered by such companies as it is likely biased, but in this case I decide to make an exception. The tool they provide is freely accessible and actually quite handy.

I would suggest that if you are looking for reliable information about diabetes there are other better resources. To list just a few:

Canadian Diabetes Association
recipes
Diabetes Quebec
Public Health Agency of Canada
Neuro-Patient Resource Centre
MedlinePlus - diabetes
UpToDate - diabetes

And now, without further ado, here is the link to the converter:

Blood glucose monitoring: converting measurements

Like other online converters, you can plug in the number you have and you will be given the number you want.

You can also use it to convert plasma results to whole blood results.

Tetanus vaccine: case

I haven't posted a case in while so I thought I would put my discussion of shared-decision-making and decision aids on hold, and spend the next couple of posts writing up cases instead.

Scenario

A man sends me an email. He would like some information about tetanus shots. He is scheduled for one the following week and would like to know what to expect in terms of normal reactions because a friend of his told him her arm swelled up a week after getting her shot.

Resolution

Judging from the man's email he has relatively high literacy and so I an able to give him information at a fairly complex level.

MedlinePlus - Medical encyclopedia entry on tetanus vaccines.

Immunization Action Coalition - vaccine information for the public and health professionals: Questions & answers about the tetanus vaccine.

The Immunization Action Coalition works to increase immunization rates and prevent disease by creating and distributing educational materials for health professionals and the public that enhance the delivery of safe and effective immunization services. The Coalition also facilitates communication about the safety, efficacy, and use of vaccines within the broad immunization community of patients, parents, health care organizations, and government health agencies.

UpToDate - Adult immunization (there is a nice section that covers possible side-effects from mild to severe, and a brief description of tetanus the disease).

Discussion

Immunization is THE top subject of interest to patients at the Herzl. Aside from a few questions I've received on the topic, my website statistics show that so far 832 people have visited the Vaccinations page 501 times since April (when the page was created). In second place is the page providing links to online Resources in French with 627 visits by 224 people (since January); and Heart disease and stroke in third place with 402 visits by 202 people (since March).