Pounds -> Kilograms || Conversions in EMS

The ole’ USA 🇺🇸 is still using pounds as the measurement for a person’s weight and this tends to pose a problem as many of our medication 💊 dosages are weight-based for kilograms. As most know, just a quick division ➗of the patient’s weight (in lbs) by 2.2 will give you the number you need for kilograms. I know all of you are math whizzes & can easily do that in your head 🧠 as it is a requirement to be in EMS 🚑 🤭😉. If you didn’t sense the last statement oozing with sarcasm……please know it is not a requirement and you are not alone in not being able to do the calculations in your head (I’m with you!🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️). I wanted to share a quick trick I learned in EMT school 🚑 that helped TREMENDOUSLY when doing a quick lbs to kgs conversion without a calculator.

Let’s just use the example in the photo. If you have a patient that weighs 60 lbs and you need to have that in kilograms for documentation or a weight-based dose, just simply pull out your calculator and ➗ 60 by 2.2. This would give you 27.3 kilograms.

If you have no calculator access or need it quickly,

Ask/estimate the patient’s weight
(in this case 60 lbs)
Take half of that ——> 30
Now take 10% of that number (or just drop the zero) and subtract it ——> 30 ➖ 3
Bam! 💥 ——> 27 kgs

I realize most providers have access to a calculator or have other estimation practices, but if not, this quick trick can help save you in a pinch and has a high degree of accuracy!

Comment any other cool med math tricks!