If someone told you you just gave a pint of blood, how much did you really give? According to this website, a pint of blood is 450 mL. 450 mL is a whopping 118 mL less then UK pint and 23 mL less then a US pint. Does this add yet another unit to the collection on nonsense units or another abuse of the word pint?

Next time someone tells you about pints of blood remind the person it isn't a true pint as it is only 450 mL.

http://www.hmc.psu.edu/healthinfo/b/blooddonation.htm


How is this procedure performed?

Before you donate blood, the healthcare professional will check your blood pressure, temperature, and pulse. You will lie down on a bed or cot, then he or she will tighten a wrapping, called a tourniquet, on your upper arm to increase the pressure on the veins in your arm so they will swell. This makes it easier to identify the larger veins and to insert the needle into the vein. The healthcare professional will clean the area where the needle will be inserted with an antiseptic wash, then insert a large needle into the vein. You will feel a slight sting as the needle goes in, but the rest of the procedure should be painless. The blood flows through a tube into a sterile plastic bag that holds around one pint (450 ml) of blood, also called one unit. People usually donate one unit at a time. The average man has 10 to 12 pints of blood in his body, while the average woman has 8 to 9 pints. A small sample of the blood you donate is put aside for testing for infectious diseases. No blood is used until all test results have shown that it is safe. All donated blood is also classified and labeled by type, either A, B, AB, or O, and as RH-positive or RH-negative. This is because donor blood must be matched to the recipient's blood type. The sterile bags, which contain preservatives and an agent that prevents clotting, are kept refrigerated. Whole blood is usable for 42 days.

The above post is just daft. I give whenever I can & already have my Silver award. According to the Scottish blood transfusion service, I have saved at least 90 people (3 people per donation)

BTW, had you ever been here, you would know that they measure your donation by weight - not liquid measure.

Thank you, Beranger!! Carlyle spews drivel on a regular basis, it is wonderful to have a man knowledgeable in the field, who also happens to be a trading standards officer, who knows what the score is. Carlyle, please stop coming out with this kind of rubbish- my blood pressure is high enough as it is.

The above post is just daft. I give whenever I can & already have my Silver award. According to the Scottish blood transfusion service, I have saved at least 90 people (3 people per donation)

BTW, had you ever been here, you would know that they measure your donation by weight - not liquid measure.



Did you comprehend what was posted? First of all there is no mention of giving a pint (actually 450 mL) at one time. The question was asked "If someone told you you just gave a pint of blood, how much did you really give?", nowhere implies you give a pint at one time. Second of all, it states that the bag used to collect your blood has a capacity of 450 mL, and does not imply it is filled to capacity at one time.

The point that was being made is that people who donate blood and speak of pints are going to assume that the pint means 568 mL , if they live in the UK and 473 mL if they live in the US. The reality is that when a pint is used to refer to blood, it means 450 mL.

Now, I've heard of people being gallon donors. Now how much would a person have to give to be considered a gallon donor? Is it 1 UK gallon, based on 4.5 L, 1 US gallon based on 3.8 L or 3.6 L based on a the 450 mL pint. The point being, that with so many possibilities of the meaning of pint and gallon, you really don't know what is intended unless the amount in litres is mentioned.

The following has been taken from the National Blood transfusion Service

<<
Q How much blood will I lose?
A Only about 475 ml, which is just under a pint, and not, as some have thought, quite an armful. Bodies are amazing things, and yours will replace that lost fluid in a very short period of time.
>>


PS - Their primary unit of measure is ml, not pints.

I have a letter dated 1st August 2004 in front of me. It is from the West of Scotland Blood Transfusion Centre. It asks me to make a special effort to donate blood at a session next week. The letter refers to the need for extra donors & is personalised to the extent that it even mentions my own blood type. The words "Pint" & "Gallon" and "ml" do not appear in the letter.

When I go to donate, the blood flows into a bag connected to a spring balance. I don't know for sure what units are used on the balance but I think it is grammes.

I donate, have a cup of tea & a biscuit & return to work. During the whole process, the words "pint", "gallon" or "ml" are never mentioned.

I would encourage everyone on the board to donate whenever they can. I have never heard of "Gallon Donors" In Scotland, you get a bronze award after 10 donations followed by Silver at 25 & Gold at 50.

In researching this on the internet. I found references to "units" instead of pints. This refers to the 450 mL bag that is used to collect and store the blood. Since it really isn't a pint some may have trouble calling it a pint and thus have come up with the term unit. Not as a measurement unit, but as a counting measure (like dozen is a counting measure) to indicate the number of 450 mL bags.

I did a google search on "blood donation" and gallon and came up with these results;

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22blood+donation%22+gallon

It may be an American thing. I have the feeling the term is used to mean 3.6 L (8 bags). I doubt the Americans know the difference between a 450 mL pint and a 473 mL pint and would assume the British pint is the same as the one used in the US.

Come to think of it, I believe with the introduction of the litre in soft drinks, bottled water and acoholic beverages the pint and quart have fallen into disuse.

Simple message to all that have contributed to this thread

Except Bryan who might be too young - but if he drinks, he should be old enough

DO YOU DONATE BLOOD?

If not, why not?

Why, I can't donate blood because I want them to take a whole pint but they are only willing to take 450 mL, and I cannot tolerate such insults to the imperial system of measurement.

Haha

Actually, I do not donate because I go to India regularly, which makes me ineligible for some unknown reason.

I am twenty years old, guv- well old ;-) I do not donate blood as.. I simply haven't thought to. And given I work in some form or another most days, it woudl require me going out of my way... perhaps I will consider it.

OK, India is a good enough excuse - The reason is that you cannot give for a full year after visiting a malarial area. I can't give until September because I went to Asia last year.

It shold be noted that 450 ml is equal to a fraction under 16 ounces of water. I.E. A true pint.

So what you are saying is that neither the US of 473 mL nor the imperial pint of 568 mL is true?

So the 450 mL is now the holy pint of imperialism.

And what will be the "true" pint tomorrow?


You see kid, if you would just forget about all of that pint nonsense and stick with metric you wouldn't have to worry about what is true and not true. Because all metric units are true.

Re: How much is a pint of blood? August 8 2004, 8:14 AM

Bryan:
It shold be noted that 450 ml is equal to a fraction under 16 ounces of water. I.E. A true pint.


metre:
Now, please tell the equivalent imperial measures of all other blood products packed in Europe. 250,300,350,450,500 ml.

Kid? WTF!? anyway, the gallon is always (except in imperial) historically 8 pounds of some liquid. to-day we use water, thus 8 pounds of water makes more sense; thus a pint is a pound; its orginal design.

Kid? WTF!? anyway, the gallon is always (except in imperial) historically 8 pounds of some liquid. to-day we use water, thus 8 pounds of water makes more sense; thus a pint is a pound; its orginal design.



What about the American version of the gallon? Does the same rule apply?

You can keep imagining problems that occur with definitions of imperial units all you want... the fact is that these problems do not, except in a few isolated instances, exist in reality. You can criticize the pint all you want because it has a different meaning in a British pub, American store, and blood donating center, but in reality thousands of people drink pints in pubs, buy pints in stores, and donate pints of blood every year and there are no problems. So imagining that all kinds of problems exist in order to make the system look bad isn't going to get you anywhere.

Yes Carlyle, the US gallon is 8lb of a certain proof wine.

I have never donated a pint of blood.

The simple reason is my phobia to needles.

Believe me, I would love to donate a pint and I get quite guilty when the van is outside the office.

And yes I know that "it doesn't hurt".

And yes I understand your point, Berenger, that the giving of blood is more important than getting really exited about saying metric words.

Carlyle - when someone is being cut out of the crashed car do you really think the term "ml" or "pint" is relevent to him.

(The last relevent pint to me, btw, was while I was in Ibiza!)

Steve,

I had a similar problem. The cure - look away when they are sticking the needle in.

Thanks for that advice.

(that was sarcasm btw, you actually made me feel queezy!)

Steve, that is exactly what I did in a simialr circumstance.

I just remembered, you're diabetic aren't you?

That is a phobia that would need to be solved in that case.

Steve, turning away from the needle when giving blood was a technique that I developed some thirty years ago. I was diagnosed as diabletic about five yeas ago and I have certainly had to get used to sticking a needle into myself.

Re: How much is a pint of blood? August 9 2004, 9:34 PM

Bud:
You can keep imagining problems that occur with definitions of imperial units all you want... the fact is that these problems do not, except in a few isolated instances, exist in reality. You can criticize the pint all you want because it has a different meaning in a British pub, American store, and blood donating center, but in reality thousands of people drink pints in pubs, buy pints in stores, and donate pints of blood every year and there are no problems. So imagining that all kinds of problems exist in order to make the system look bad isn't going to get you anywhere.

metre:
Some people are well and truly stuck in the middle ages. You obviously never heard of the global village and Internet must be an unknown quantity to you. So keep on being narrow minded and communicate only with people that speak your measurement language, it makes you such a good neighbour. Your, and many of your compatriots problem is that you consider globalisation a one way street.

Metre's last response has a lot of general criticism, but no substantial response to anything I said. What does the existence of the internet have to do with measurement systems?



I always look away when a needle is being inserted into my body. But I don't see how you can do that if you are inserting the needle yourself. How can you see where the vein is?

<<I always look away when a needle is being inserted into my body>>

Bud, Martin - I actually KNOW where you are coming from with this and believe me - I KNOW that my fear is irrational (isn't every phobia irrational?).

Believe me - if I didn't have this stupid phobia I'd give a pint per week!

SteveH wrote

<<
Believe me - if I didn't have this stupid phobia I'd give a pint per week!
>>

They only take it one every four months or so (used to be every 2 months in South Africa and every six months in the UK)

Sheesh.

Totally misses the point again.

Martin, with respect, do you take EVERYTHING literally or by official decree?

The inside of your house must be like a 'regulation utopia'!

:-)

Re: How much is a pint of blood? August 9 2004, 9:34 PM


You can keep imagining problems that occur with definitions of imperial units all you want... the fact is that these problems do not, except in a few isolated instances, exist in reality. You can criticize the pint all you want because it has a different meaning in a British pub, American store, and blood donating center, but in reality thousands of people drink pints in pubs, buy pints in stores, and donate pints of blood every year and there are no problems. So imagining that all kinds of problems exist in order to make the system look bad isn't going to get you anywhere.


.

Re: How much is a pint of blood? August 11 2004, 12:08 AM

Bud:
Metre's last response has a lot of general criticism, but no substantial response to anything I said. What does the existence of the internet have to do with measurement systems?

metre:
I am not sure whether you display your, or America's dismal educational standard. Unlike most Americans Europeans can talk freely on the Internet with anyone about quantities, except Yanks. That's one reason why our world turned into a global village. Working against that is a America's insular perception that globalisation is a one way street. That hopefully should help you to understand.

<<
Unlike most Americans Europeans can talk freely on the Internet with anyone about quantities, except Yanks
>>

Oh, so Americans are living in a secluded haven, left out of the global internet community? The rest of the world is integrating online and the United States is left behind? Hahaha, get real.

On an more serious note, Americans are quite familiar with metric measurements and can use them when necessary. And people in most Commonwealth countries, especially those who speak English, are quite familiar with imperial measurements. And if any confusion results, all you need is a simple conversion table, freely available on multiple websites.

Drunken youths vomitting in back alleys, knocking up teenage girls to go home with pregnancy and the highest VD rate in the EU.
JUST LIKE AT HOME!
Love watching the Brits on hols here in metriclands. Canīt handle their litres at all.
Best they stick to those little pints at home, even though they were prescribed for people markedly smaller than our current sizes centuries ago.
Hopefully by time you are ALLOWED drink sizes to match your current body sizes ( as opposed to the midgets of the past) you might have learnt to deal with the new EUROPEAN style drinking laws without rendering yourselves extinct through all of the above antics!
Proud to be British? I flee from them at sight and stay here with the others who left the sinking rat hole decades ago.

Regardless, the pint is larger than half a litre.. or to put it another way, people often drinks in quarts (1.1 litres) or drink two pints. Anyway, it is OT but... binge drinking in this country has gone too far. However, like all northern peoples, drinking is a vital part of our culture, of our lives- I can't imagine Jim from the local sipping his sonsaire with a meal, can you!?

If the idiot two posts up believes that there's no binge drinking Friday/Saturday drinkers in Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Holland etc etc etc then he must actually reside on another continent. Maybe he's mixing up the middle east with europe! I hear the middle east doesn't have such a drinkn "problem"!!!

BTW - trendy bars in paris serve pints, and you ask for them that way.
That's not my opinion, that's what a French friend asked for.

Before he tucked into a whole garlic, bitched about american films and surrendered to anyone who said hello.

(Sorry, had to do the "antidote" to that anonymous poster's "generalisation using tabloids" drivel!)

heh! this is fun!

Re: How much is a pint of blood? August 12 2004, 12:43 AM

metre:
Unlike most Americans Europeans can talk freely on the Internet with anyone about quantities, except Yanks
>>

Bud:
Oh, so Americans are living in a secluded haven, left out of the global internet community? The rest of the world is integrating online and the United States is left behind? Hahaha, get real.

metre:
Not haven, but isolation, based on an unfounded feeling of superiority. If you go back a few years the Internet was predominantly America's domain, not anymore.
.

Bud:
On an more serious note, Americans are quite familiar with metric measurements and can use them when necessary. And people in most Commonwealth countries, especially those who speak English, are quite familiar with imperial measurements. And if any confusion results, all you need is a simple conversion table, freely available on multiple websites.

metre:
No, American's are not. You keep insisting that they are without ever verifying it. Commonowealth: Not anymore. Most young people in these countries have no clue about inches, feet or yards, let alone all other obsolete units. Some might use feet to express their height for no other reason than their parents addiction to them. Nobody in these countries is ever measured in feet. Speaking the language does not endow you with any concept of quantities your antiquated units denote nor does it take care of discrepancies between 2 versions. Apart from this why would anyone waste time on obsolete units, or conversions, if it is not abolutely necessary?

"eric:
No, American's are not. You keep insisting that they are without ever verifying it. Commonowealth: Not anymore. Most young people in these countries have no clue about inches, feet or yards"

There you have it, folks.
When Bud (an American) puts across an american point of view he is "wrong"! Perhaps the old man phoned his "relatives in america" for that.

And his total lies on the commonwealth are fantastic!

Apart from the Bahamas being entirely imperial, the roads of St lucia are entirely in imperial and the shops of Barbados are mainly imperial (although I concede that the roads in barbados are metric, but you'd never guess!).
All the kids I spoke to in the carribean speak in inches, feet, yards, miles etc.
In Australia the kids go surfing - entirely imperial (a small example of its wide use).

Yet - people will still engage with the liar even though there's not one ounce of truth in what he says.

I've been waiting for him to do a "total lie post" for ages.

My wait is over!