Dieses Handbuch erhielten 1992 alle Leser des New England Journal of Medicine, deren Wohnsitz sich außerhalb der Vereinigten Staaten befand, da das Magazin beschlossen hatte, nach fünfjähriger Benutzung der SI-Einheiten wieder die amerikanischen Standardeinheiten zu verwenden. Dieser Rückschritt war notwendig, um die Lesbarkeit des Magazins für alle Leser zu maximieren, da nur wenige Krankenhäuser oder Labore in den Vereinigten Staaten SI-Einheiten in Verwendung haben.
This guide was sent to all non-US subscribers of the New England Journal of Medicine after their return to the use of conventional American unit measurements instead of the international SI standards in 1992, with the hope to facilitate their international readers the conversion. This backstep was decided due to the fact that almost no American hospital or commercial laboratory used SI units as their standards, and the most important goal of the magazine being to remain maximally readable for all of their subscribers.
SI Unit Conversion Guide, Michael Laposata, MD PhD, Director of Clinical Laboratories Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, produced and printed by Robquest Print Ltd., Ashford, Kent/England 1992