Demensional analysis

Nursing Students LPN/LVN Students

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I am in term one and we are starting dosage calculations. My instructor gave an example of the what he calls the easiest way to do this and that was by what he calls "Old School" Demensional analysis he said their are 3 steps. And from what he did seems to be very simple because he wasnt on the board long at all with his example...the problem is that I just didnt get it, he moved through that really fast and I felt a little embarrassed to ask him to repeat it since nobody else in the class did...they seemed to have gotten it and I didnt want to stand out. If there is anyone that can please explain a simple step process in using Demensional analysis I would really appreciate it.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

there are several weblinks specifically on how to do da dimensional analysis on post #3 of the nursing math thread. whenever i have worked a problem on that thread or the dosage calulcations thread i almost always do them by da:

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Once you get it, you may discover as I did that it is the BEST formula out there for nursing math. I wouldn't even dream of learning another!

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Specializes in None.
Once you get it, you may discover as I did that it is the BEST formula out there for nursing math. I wouldn't even dream of learning another!

Thats the same thing my instructor said. I just hope that I get this because it has me stressing right now. It seems like its would be simple to do, but I still find myself getting confused.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

when i put da problems together i first determine what kind of fraction i want in the final answer and what label is going to end up with the number in the numerator and what label is going to end up with the number in the denominator. then, i keep quantities together as if they are marriages. and, i do it by the formula dose desired divided by dose on hand to give you the dose to give. many times the dose on hand is mg/ml, but it could be units/liter. it doesn't matter which term is in the numerator or denominator as long as you keep both terms together in the same fraction if they are the dose desired, dose on hand or dose to give. you manipulate their positions as numerator or denominator so you will end up with the right labels in the right position at the end of the problem when all the canceling out and arithmetic is completed. conversion factors are also fractions introduced to cancel out unwanted labels you are going to get rid of and get you shifted into the right quantities the problem calls for. ultimately, you want to end up with all the unwanted labels being cancelled out and a bunch of math that needs to be done. all numerators get multiplied together; all denominators get multiplied together. you usually want to get a denominator of "1". sometimes you will need to round off the answer.

da is also called the factor label method because you end up factoring out unwanted labels. it is a very slick manipulation tactic. it is used primarily in solving physics and chemistry problems.

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I couldn't use the dosage on hand formula, for whatever reason it confused me. And to watch someone use it, it looks so simple. I end up using stoiciometry, fancy word for algebra. I ended up with a tutor who already was a math wiz in our class. I wish you the best, but try www.dosagehelp.com, i use my math formulas to solve their problems, check it out

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