Dosage Question

Nursing Students General Students

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I am signed up for a Dosage Calculation class this Sept along with the regular 1st semester nursing classes. It is not required. Many people are telling me to drop this and learn it on my own this summer to lighten the load this fall, not to mention save the money. Other student nurses say 'why have extra tests?'. Do I need to know more than basic math. My option is to buy the book and work on it over the summer. Please advise!!!!!! :confused:

Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych.

Hi Student NY,

I was considering taking the Math for Health Professionals course at my college. But I bought "Dosage Calculations Made Easy" and it is great. It starts out with very basic math and is conmpletely geared to Nursing.

So, I am going to do a review over the summer on my own and just take Nursing Foundations I in September. I'm pretty confident this my self-refresher will be sufficient.

Let me know if you want a study partner!

Michelle

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This is the formula I always use.

Desired X Volume = ____________

Have

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I'm from a small town, Yaphank. Have you ever heard of it?

Hi studentNY,

I grew up in Bellport! Where are you attending school, if I may ask?

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Hi studentNY,

I grew up in Bellport! Where are you attending school, if I may ask?

I start the RN program at Suffolk CC in sept. I like it there. Close to home. I hear some people say they drive an hour or so to school, yikes. I'm lucky I suppose. How long have you been off the Island?
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I start the RN program at Suffolk CC in sept. I like it there. Close to home. I hear some people say they drive an hour or so to school, yikes. I'm lucky I suppose. How long have you been off the Island?

I guess I really never officially left! My parents are in East Patchogue and I'm out to see them constantly ... I hear Suffolk's nursing department is AWESOME. Congratulations ... I considered actually coming back to the island for that very reason, but work and my current rental lease prevent me from doing so. Please do keep me "posted" at how things are at Suffolk and good luck!

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Its very elementary algebra. If you're ok with math you should do quite well on your own with the textbook. Sometimes you have to do a bit more than D/H x Q, though. In pediatrics, there's an extra step where you have to calculate the safe dose range based on the kid's weight, but that's easy to do and that's pretty much it as far as nursing math goes.

You also have to know how to convert household and apothecary measurements to metric before you calculate the problem. I used to think that its a waste of time to learn how to convert minims, grains, and drams---until I got into my first clinical and saw that some of the older physicians still write orders with those measurements. You also have to be careful to always read the questions before you jump into the math. Sometimes when you end up with a fraction its easy to forget to round up or down to the nearest whole number when your med is an enteric coated tablet or a capsule and when you're calculating the drop rate for an IV.

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Thank you everyone!!!! I picked up Dosage Calculations made Incredibly Easy today. Not too bad:) . I would definitely rather study nursing classes than have to worry about extra tests in a dosage class. Thank you again!!!

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I'm from a small town, Yaphank. Have you ever heard of it?

No I don't guess I have...my husband is from Bayport.

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

Have to agree with Tony35NYC. A lot more to dosage including the drams, gtts, IV's, heparin, etc. etc. etc. I took dosage calc course and it helped me tremendously. Dosage math will start popping up on exams so just make sure you're really comfortable with all of it.

BTW...I'm a former LI'er...from Port Jeff! Moved 2-1/2 years ago. Loving it here in RI.

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