[Phantom]

Please excuse this pogue for sticking his nose in, but I have to raise a point which is important to the discussion. This is in no way meant to disparage anyone's imput in this discussion, it is merely to make a correction which could be important when the situation comes down to "brass tacks."

I keep seeing "5cm = 2 1/2 inches" which isn't correct.

There are exactly 2.54cm to an inch, hence 5cm is just shy of 2 inches, not 2 1/2 inches. 2 1/2 inches would actually be 6.35cm. The only way to stretch this measurement would be to include the bedding material of the needle and then some, and even being a non-medico pogue, this does not sound like it could possibly be correct. Of course, I would also presume that measurements in inches would be damn near non-existant with medical supplies, but then again, not my area.

I only bring this up because in this case the measurement is fairly important, and it could have bad consequences if someone has the wrong numbers engrained in their brains and is trying to make a misinformed "educated guess" as to what will be appropriate for a given patients makeup under stress.

Please forgive my intrusion.