Why This Matters for Nursing: Healthcare primarily uses metric units for medication and fluid calculations. Medications are in milligrams (mg), IV fluids in milliliters (mL), and patient weights in kilograms (kg). Knowing metric prefixes lets you convert instantly.
The metric system is based on powers of 10. Each prefix changes the base unit by a power of 10 determined by the prefix (for example ×10, ×100, ×1,000, up to ×1,000,000 for micro).
| Measurement | Base Unit | Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| Length | meter | m |
| Volume | liter | L |
| Mass/Weight | gram | g |
| Prefix | Symbol | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| kilo- | k | 1,000 | 1 kg = 1,000 g |
| (base) | - | 1 | meter, gram, liter |
| centi- | c | 1/100 (0.01) | 1 cm = 0.01 m |
| milli- | m | 1/1,000 (0.001) | 1 mg = 0.001 g |
| micro- | mcg or μ | 1/1,000,000 | 1 mcg = 0.000001 g |
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