Dosage Calc Help!

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Specializes in progressive care. med surg. tele. LTC. psych..

So, I'm using this interactive program for my Dosage Course. I'm starting to wonder if there are errors in the program, however.

I'll cut to the chase..

"A physician prescribes 0.4mcg of a medication that is available as 500mg/2mL. What's the amount in mL that the nurse should administer?"

It's telling me the answer is 1.6mL..

But when I use DA, FM, etc that isn't the answer I get.

What do you get?

I tried googling the problem but nothing came up.

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Rather than asking what we get, why don't you show us what you got?

ETA: Are you sure that you copied the problem correctly? The answer, using the information provided is 0.0000016 mL. However, if the dose prescribed were 0.4 g, the answer you provided would be correct.

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Specializes in progressive care. med surg. tele. LTC. psych..

I got some number like 0.000016mL.

so strange.

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Specializes in MICU.

Convert mcg to mg

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Specializes in progressive care. med surg. tele. LTC. psych..
Convert mcg to mg

I did. But I'm still not getting the same answer the computer is telling me.

This program has told me the wrong answer before so I'm trying to figure out which one of us is right before I confront my instructor about it, lol.

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Specializes in progressive care. med surg. tele. LTC. psych..
Rather than asking what we get, why don't you show us what you got?

ETA: Are you sure that you copied the problem correctly? The answer, using the information provided is 0.0000016 mL. However, if the dose prescribed were 0.4 g, the answer you provided would be correct.

Yes! That was the question verbatim. I'm looking at it right now.

The program is wrong (again)! I wanted to make sure:)

Thank you!!! I knew I wasn't going insane lol.

[emoji4][emoji4][emoji4]

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I don't think the computer is wrong in this case. Heres how i did you problem. FYI I am taking my program's math for Health Sciences course right now, so this is exactly what we are doing.

1) First you have to convert the 0.4 mcg to mg. So 0.4 * 1000 = 400.

2) now you have a prescription of 400 mg.

3) Set up your problem like a ratio problem. 500 mg/ 2 mL = 400 mg / x

4) Use cross multiplication to solve for x. So you should now have 500x = 800

5) Now divide both sides by 500 to get x. 800/500 = 1.6

6) So your answer is 1.6 mL

Make sense? If not let me know. I'll keep an eye on this conversation if you have any other questions. Or if I did something wrong let me know :)

Hope this helped.

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[…]

1) First you have to convert the 0.4 mcg to mg. So 0.4 * 1000 = 400.

[…]

0.4 mcg would be 0.0004 mg, not 400 mg

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0.4 mcg would be 0.0004 mg, not 400 mg

Good God. Thanks Chare. thats what I get for trying to go math first thing in the morning. LOL.

Sorry :(

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Yeah that's odd. I got 0.0000016

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Good God. Thanks Chare. thats what I get for trying to go math first thing in the morning. LOL.

Sorry :(

No worries. I work PICU, and it is not an uncommon mistake to move the decimal point the wrong direction, even for experienced nurses. This is why we double check most, if not all, of our calculations.

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If you don't mind me asking, Im sorry in advance Im really new to nursing, What is PICU ?

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