Math Calculations for last semester of Nursing Program

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hello to all. My instructor sent out 2 pgs of practice problems and I am having a hard time figuring out the flow rates. I feel as if key items are missing (i.e. gtt/min or ml/hr and time to be infused)

If someone could help anyone please do!!!! I am going crazy because we have the exam on thursday and she sent it with no answer key.

I answered the first 2 of each section then stopped because honestly it does not make sense for me to answer them the way it is presented

Drug Calculation Practice Questions

Compute the flow rate for each of these medications administered by infusion pump.

  1. The patient has an order to receive Lidocaine (xylocaine) for PVC's. The pharmacy has sent you Lidocaine 2 grams IV in 1000 ml D5W at 4mg/min. What is the pump setting to deliver the desired dosage?

0.002mg/min???

  1. A patient weighing 154 pounds is ordered to have Dopamine at 15 mcg/kg/min. The pharmacy has sent you Dopamine 800 mg in 500 ml NS. What is the rate of infusion?

0.65625mg/min= 0.66mg/min???

  1. Your patient is ordered to have Tridil (nitroglycerine) for chest pain. The patient is to have 5 mcg/min. The pharmacy has sent 50mg in 500 ml of D5W. What is the rate of infusion?

  1. Your patient admitted with an exacerbation of asthma has an Aminophylline (theophylline) drip running at 6 ml/hr. The bag that is up is 500ml D5W with 2 grams of aminophylline. How much is the patient receiving?

  1. Your 220 pound patient has a dopamine drip running at 25 ml /hour. The bag that is hanging is 500 ml D5W with 900mg of dopamine. How much is the patient receiving?

Medication Calculation Practice Questions

Your patient is to start a dopamine drip due to severe hyptotension. The pharmacy has sent you a 250ml bag of NS with 400mg dopamine. What is the rate of infusion if the physician has ordered the following: 8mcg/kg for your client that weighs 186 pounds?

0.4227/hr???

How much would the patient be receiving if his pump was running at 11ml/hr?

I got 17.6/hr???

You have a client that is in atrial fibrillation. The doctor has ordered procainamide (Procaine, Pronestyl) IV. The order reads to give the patient 2 mg/min. The pharmacy has sent you a 500ml bag of D5W with 3gm of procainamide. What is the rate of infusion?

Hint: Milligrams/minute

6.6mg/hr???

If this patient's IV was running at 22ml/hr, how much medicine is he receiving?

No more hints...you can do it. To use the calculation sheet do the following. Look at the way the medications is ordered (mcg/kg/min; mcg/min; ml/hr) Look at how much medication you are adding to the bag (is it ordered in mg or grams). Fill in the blanks based on your orders.

Your patient has an Aminophylline drip of 500mg aminophylline in 250ml NS. How much if the patient receiving if his pump is running at 12ml/hr?

Your patient is complaining of chest pain. The doctor has ordered Tridil (NTG) at 5mcg/min. You have a 500ml bottle of D5W with 50mg of Tridil added. What is the rate of infusion?

GreenTea, solme time ago, the kiddles started to learn "new math". They were being introduced to algebra, although it called "new math" in elementary school. Those of us who are "seasoned" had to be introduced to the concepts of algebra in jr. high school (now known as middle school). By the time the kids of today are in middle school, they are doing simple algebra. This is why so many parents started having difficulty when "new math" was introduced many years ago...and I was one of those parents.

and so the reason a college nursing student can't do it is...?:banghead:

and so the reason a college nursing student can't do it is...?:banghead:

none whatsoever. i was just noting that schools are teaching algebra in grade school but are calling it "new math".

some people (nurses included) have math anxiety created by past experiences or a poor teacher. many nursing students fear med math. when they actually understand that the math involved is basic math combined with a little algebra to solve for a missing number, sometimes that information reduces their fear. for others, they need a little hand holding to understand the basic concepts. sadly, america stresses english is fundamental, but they have neglected to stress that math is fundamental, too.

I think that starting algebra so early is why new nursing students have such a hard time with nursing math. I did algebra one when I was in eighth grade, I did geometry and algebra two in ninth grade, I did pre-calculus and discrete math (intro to statistics) in tenth grade, and I did calculus and physics in eleventh grade. My senior year I did not take a math, as I was tired of it, and had fulfilled the math requirements. I was okay at math, but I wasn't phenomenal. Math was my least favorite subject even though I made mostly As (with a few Bs), and because of this, I wasn't interested in the subject. I loved science, and I took as many science classes as possible. I also loved literature, and I took as many advanced lit classes as I could while in high school. Now that I'm in nursing school, I remember enough math to do the nursing math simply because I graduated high school as an early graduate in 2010. If, however, I had graduated in, say, 2006, I don't know that I would remember enough to do well in nursing math. Also, if I hadn't known what I wanted to do while in high school, and if I had been the type to not care, I probably wouldn't have tried to remember what I learned during high school math. If that had been the case, I would've been in big trouble during nursing math. I think a lot of the younger nursing students hated math in high school, distanced themselves from the subject, and did only the minimum required to pass. Math was hard for them, and, rather than pushing themselves to succeed, they decided to avoid the subject and only learn enough to make a C. Now that these students are in nursing school, they are overwhelmed by the math, and they don't remember anything from high school. They didn't learn enough to set a firm foundation, and they don't remember enough about algebra to get by and pass the classes. I'm not saying that beginning advanced maths early is a bad thing, I just think it has the possibility to be detrimental for some students.

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