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Units of Measure
General considerations
- Representation of the units will first be taken from UCUM Standard (The Unified Code for Units of Measure)
- Units are plural when it is grammatically appropriate
- US spelling is preferred over UK spelling.
For example: Milliliter vs millilitre: milliliter is preferred
- When a number precedes the unit it will take a ‘s’ if greater than 1
For example: Engerix B 20 micrograms per milliliter suspension for injection GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (product)
- If we decided to add a synonym with the unit symbols, the UCUM format (mL) would be preferred
The FSN format
The unit is part of the strength information which is found only in FSN
- Lf (limit of flocculation)
- The term ‘unit’ is added and will be singular or plural if more than one (1) unit
For example: 2 LF / 0.5 ML vs 2 limit of flocculation units per 0.5 milliliter
- ELISA units
- Curly braces will not be used
For example: 1440 ELISA Units/mL will become 1440 ELISA units per 0.5 milliliter
- B
- In UCUM B = bel but this description does not seem to be appropriate for drug strength
- It could be translated in ‘billion cells’, but we will not enter this strength in the FSN, because too difficult to express clearly.
For example: Instead of "Vivotif 10 billion cells enteric coated capsule Crucell Switzerland LTD (product)" we will have: "Vivotif enteric coated capsule Crucell Switzerland LTD (product)"
- ug
- This is represented by ‘microgram’
For example: FSME-IMMUN 2.4 micrograms per 0.5 milliliter suspension for injection Baxter AG (product)
- Plaque forming
- Curly braces will not be used
- Exponential number cannot be represented in SNOMED CT
- The term ‘unit’ is added and will be singular or plural if more than one (1) unit
For example: Varivax III 1350 plaque forming units powder and diluent for solution for injection Merck Canada Inc. (product)
- 1.0 mL
- There are inconsistencies using 1.0 mL or /mL
- UCUM guidelines are followed to be consistent with lab existing content.
- 1.0 will not be added to the FSN
For example: Recombivax HB 10 micrograms per milliliter suspension for injection Merck Canada Inc. (product)
- iU
- This is represented by ‘International unit’
For example: Imovax Rabies 2.5 international units per milliliter powder for solution for injection Sanofi Pasteur SA (product)
- CCID50
- In UCUM, defined as : cell culture infectious dose 50% unit
- The above definition will not be part of the FSN, it will rather be represented as follow:
Strength: 1000000 CCID50 /ML for Rotarix will become:
Rotarix 1000000 units per milliliter oral suspension GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (product)