Twinkles2

I have to get a sample of the syringe at my desk before I post much more, but it is not .33mg I was trying to convert. It is .33mls which equals 5 mg from a 15mg/ml vial. Thanks

Hi Leslie, Thank you for your reply. I realize that 5mg would be easy to measure. We don't always give that amount. From our 15mg/ml vials, our measurements are many times, .33mls, or .66mls. Can this be measured safely in units, are there divisions on the barrell for anything past .(a whole number?) We mostly use 15mg/ml vials, not the 10mg/ml anyways. So, what I am asking is ie: can .33mls be coverted safely into units, and what and where would it be on the syringe? Thanks.

Well, if .33mls is 33 units, then I guess we could use the 1ml sryinges..that equal 100units? I think I have that right........from what you are saying. I will bring it up again in work and maybe we can use up these 1ml /100u insulin syringes.

Well, if 1unit is equal to 0.01ml, then the insulin syringe would not work to draw up mls, since we measure our meds as I previously stated..from vials that contain 15mg/ml or 10mg/ml...It would get very confusing converting units to mls. I think when they were put out there for us to use, they were thinking units and mls were the same or something?? Anyways, that is why I refused to use them and they took them off the shelves. If units were the same amount as mls, why would they use units instead of mls for insulin? The syringes even appear much small with a much thinner barrell. Am I right or wrong.

In response to my latest answer if we can use the insulin syringe to measure up mls. I believe my situation is a little different. We use Sub Q butterflies and draw up very small amounts of morphine from either 10mg/ml or 15mg/ml multi-dose vials. We are not using IVs for administration or normal saline. We draw up small amounts such as .33 = 5mg, or .5 = 7.5mg, etc.. and this is injected via a butterfly that is left in. That is why I am questioning measuring this with units as the measurement vs. mls on the barrell. It makes sense that 50u = .5 of a ml, however, can you measure in between these measurements safely? I would appreciate more input on this matter. So, the new question is: can you measure mls the same as units no matter what amount you need under 1ml safely?

Thanks for your answer, but what I guess I want to know is can you measures parts of mls in a 1ml Insulin syringe that is labelled units? We give shots made up of .33mls, .5, or .66 mls at times. Aren't these a different measurement than units? How would you measure that on a syringe that is marked units? Still need some input.

Hello, I have a question about syringes. I keep getting different answers to the same question in work. I am a Hospice nurse, so, in turn I administer a lot of morphine injections. We have 1ml luer lock syringes which we use all the time. Then someone pulled out some insulin syringes stating units on the barrell and told us that we can use these to measure up our morphine doses which we measure in mls. Can you use these syringes for measurements in mls? Someone who knows the true answer, please help.