HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Nursing Math

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Can anyone recommend a good nursing math calculations website. I am having a rough time. I got so upset in my calculations class today, that I cried:o. I guess ns is getting the best of me. All my instructor kept saying to us is "this is easy".....at that point, I just wanted to pack my bags and books and go home.

I guess I was emotional from an A/P exam that I took later today and it was difficult.

Anyway, please help. This is the second week of math calculations and I gotta score a 90 to pass the class!:uhoh21:

Thanks

Can anyone recommend a good nursing math calculations website. I am having a rough time. I got so upset in my calculations class today, that I cried:o. I guess ns is getting the best of me. All my instructor kept saying to us is "this is easy".....at that point, I just wanted to pack my bags and books and go home.

I guess I was emotional from an A/P exam that I took later today and it was difficult.

Anyway, please help. This is the second week of math calculations and I gotta score a 90 to pass the class!:uhoh21:

Thanks

My advice really isn't about books. You can try Math for Meds (Anna Curren) which builds your math skills from the very foundations of decimals, then onto fractions and then your formulas.

Everyone has a different approach to learning, and yours is different from how your teacher teaches. It must be impossibly frustrating for you. Please do yourself a huge favor and find your school's academic advising center to get some assistance from a tutor as soon as possible. It is not a failure on your part that you don't see it the same way as your professor, but it will become your failure if you don't ask for help. I am not being judgemental or mean in any way when I say that. You are too smart to lose your place in your program over this.

So many students don't ask for help because they think its a sign of weakness (yours truly included). I almost failed physics because I was foolishly stubborn. Even if you only meet with the tutor for two sessions until you figure out the right approach you will be saving yourself a ton of angst.

I wish you the best! :up:

Diane

dextrose 5% in water with epinephrine is infusing at a rate of 120 ml per hour. the iv solution was prepared by adding 2 mg of epinephrine to dextrose 5% in water. the final solution contained a total volume of 250 ml. how many mg are infusing per minute? round to the thousandth and do not write the units.

120 ml/1 hour
(rate of infusion)
x 20mg/250 ml
(dose on hand)
x 1 hour/60 minutes
(conversion factor)
=
0.016 mg/minute
(dose desired)

this could also be expressed as 16 mcg/minute.

daytonite, i follow most of this but i can't figure out the 20 mg. can you please help me with that? i'm sure its right in fromt of my nose but i still can't see it. thanks. :bow:

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
Daytonite, I follow most of this but I can't figure out the 20 mg. Can you please help me with that? I'm sure its right in fromt of my nose but I still can't see it. Thanks. :bow:

It was a typo. It should have been 2 mg. I edited the post. I do these problems on a piece of paper and then copy them onto the computer screen.

Hey guys!

I just wanted to say that Henke's Med-Math (the new edition - I think it's the 5th) helped me so much! We take 3 dosage quizzes, and I made a 100% on all 3 of them. That book is AMAZING. It made things so easy to understand. If you wanna get a good dosage book, get that one. I got mine on ebay for like $18. I hope that helps and good luck!

You guys are really helpful.....I love this website...love all the members...Thanx ...all of you.

Specializes in Many.

i use this simple equation that works for all drug calculations and you don't have to memorize different solutions!!

example: order: verapamil 60mg po stat. on hand is verapamil 120mg tablets. how much do you give?

the only important thing you need to know with (my) system is--you need to know what you are trying to get, ie, pills, mls, gtts/min, mls/hr. once you have what you need to get you write that down. i put a line under what i need to get because when you start meds with ml/hr you will have to write it down as---ml you with me so far?

--------

hr

the next important step is to look at your problem and find out "pills". so 1 pill = 160mg.

next is the order or whatever has "mg" in it. set it up like this. now cross out the mg's and you are left will "pills". now multiply the top numbers and divide it by the bottom number and you will end up with .5 pills or ½ pill. easy ha!!

pill= 1pill 60mg 60

_____ ________ ________ ____= .5 pills or ½ pill

120mg 120

now lets do iv

the power goes out and you must control the iv flow rate by drip rate. the iv rate should be at 40ml/hr. the tubing is 15gtts/ml. how many gtts/minute will deliver the 40ml/hr.

we need to find gtts/min. find gtts and put on top.

gtts 15gtts 40ml 600

______= ________ ______ ______= 10gtts/min

min ml 60min 60

you will get the correct answer as long as you start with what you need.

i have had trouble with all the different ways to get different problems and this one hasn't let me down

This seems like a good way to do it, and if it works for you, that's all that matters! :)

My brain functions on formulas. I LOVE formulas. I don't know why, lol. That's why I really liked the Henke's Med-Math. The formula for the IV problem you just did is:

mL/hr X TF (tubing factor)

_______________________ (that is supposed to be divided by, lol)

60

will give you gtts/min.

So I took the 40 mL/hr X by the 15 gtts/mL, then divided it by 60 and got 10.

I love, love, LOVE that book. It made everything so plain and easy to me.

Specializes in Many.

In school I hated math, but, I love med calculations. Go figure? Thank you.

the nurse procalc booklet with cd is very helpful. i don't know any websites for nurse math, but i might interest you with my short formulas.arrggh it's hard to type formulas here.

probs.

pills/powder/ampules/vials: dose ordered (d) divide drug on hand (h) then multiply volume (v/ml) this formula applies to insulin units too

gtt/mins: gtt factor(gf) divide #minutes(m) then multiply volume (v/ml)

make sure you understand the question first and convert what needs to be converted.

these are great!! for some reason i could not remember formulas but these are easy and quick. thanks again!!

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