Help with nursing drug calculations?

[moplez1]

Hi folks,

i recently went for a nursing assessment test for a rmn job. I passed the literacy section but failed the numeracy miserably. Myself and many others found the questions hard and taxing. I have added a few of the questions and would be thankful if anyone could answer/example them. Thanks?

1) A baby weighs 3.95kg. How much does the baby weigh in pounds and ounces?

2) A patient weighs 11 stones . The daily dose 20mg/kg, calculate the patient's daily dose. Answer in grams to 2 decimal places.

3)A patient requires oral doses of drug Z. Dose required is 15 ml four times a day for 3 weeks. What volume do you need to prescribe in mls?

4) A patient is given 3mls of 1:1000 drug H. How many mls of drug H has the patient received?

5) How much of drug F is contained in a 1 in 10000 unit solution of adrenaline?

6)How much of drug F is contained in a 1 in 100 unit solution of adrenaline?

7) Solution contains 5g/L of drug H, How many grams will be in a solution of 200ml?

8) 270mg of drug J is prescribed. 5ML of solutions contains 30mg what volume is needed?

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

These are pretty basic mathematic and algebraic questions. They are problems you will encounter often as a nurse. You need to look up conversion values for pounds, kg, stone, etc and review the basics of solving an equation for X.

This site's policy is that we don't give out answers without seeing effort from the OP to solve the problems. So, what are your guesses and attempts at solving these problems yourself? Any ideas?

[moplez1]

A baby weighs 3.95kg. How much does the baby weigh in pounds and ounces?

1kg = 2.2 lbs

3.95kg = 3.95(2.2) lbs = 8.69 lbs

1 lb = 16oz

0.69 lb = 16(0.69) oz =11.04 oz

The 3.95kg baby weighs 8 lbs 11.04 oz?

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[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

That's what I got, too. Question 2 is similar in nature to the first question.

Question 3 is a pretty basic question. If a patient is going to be taking 4 doses of 15 mL for 3 weeks (21 days), how much would they need to last the entire week?

4 doses x 15 mL = Y (total volume of drug to be taken per day).

Y x 21 days = X (total volume of drug per 3 weeks).

For Question 4, the question (unless it wasn't written correctly) appears to be a trick question. It gives you the amount of mL given (3mL) and then asks you for the amount of mL given, unless you meant to denote "mg".

If they were in fact asking for mg, then you need to specify what the 1:1000 ratio is describing. Which of those numbers describes the mL? Which describes mg? In other words, is it 1mg : 1000mL, so 1mg of drug in 1 liter of fluid, or is it 1mL : 1000mg, or 1000mg of drug in 1mL of fluid?

Questions 5 and 6 have the same issue. What are the units associated with the numerical values in the question?

Question 7 is basic algebra. You have a liter of fluid that contains 5 grams of medication. If you were to decrease the fluid to 200mL, how much drug would be in the solution?

5 grams......X grams

--------- = ---------- (5 grams x 200mL) / 1000mL = X grams

1000mL.......200mL

Question 8 is along the same lines. You need 270mg of a drug that comes in incriments of 30mg in 5mL.

270mg......30mg

-------- = -------- (270mg x 5mL) / 30mg = X mL

X mL..........5mL

**Please disregard the periods between numbers in the cross-multiplication series above. The spaces wouldn't hold for whatever reason.**

[moplez1]

Thank you

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

No problem!