Medication calculations

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi!

I'm wondering if anyone knows any helpful tests online for medication calculations? I have a test coming up that requires a certain % to be allowed to go to clinicals. I have already completed our set text book for calculations.

Thanks :)

Specializes in CMSRN.

Google "medication calculations for nurses" or just "medication calculations" and lots of great stuff comes up.

Keep it simple :)

For drop factor questions (gtts) use

Volume in ML (divided by) Time in minutes (times) gtts - ML/Min*gtts

For any question that has the word "pump" in it use

MLs (divided by) Hours - ML/Hours

*Note that if the question asks about half an hour, use .5 in the hours portion*

For standard questions about doses use

Desired amount (divided by) On hand amount (times) Vehicle (which is usually the ML amount) - D/H*V

Commit those to memory, and you should be golden.

You'll want to know simple conversions, such as 1 teaspoon is 5mls. 1 tablespoon (which is 3 teaspoons) is 15mls. Other things, such as insulin, have their own protocols for use. Be familiar with the sliding scale, which is very easy to work with.

Just using the above formulas, I haven't had a single issue with the math questions yet. Some things will change with peds, but the basic formulas have served me very well.

Best of luck to you!

Thank you so much for your answers :)

We are lucky enough to have the drug formulas provided on our test paper. I'm just being over prepared and learning how to do the calculations without the extra help.

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