is there a calculation on how to waste the remaining drug?

[Blackbuttafly]

Hello to all,

I have a question which some may find silly but i will ask anyway. When you are wasting a med in the accu dose is there some sort of calculation that you do? I have been on the floor for two month, and believe it or not I have only had to waste two drugs.

They were both the same medication, but I am confused on how much i am suppose to waste.

for example phenergan ordered 12.5mg. on hand 25mg/ml. I know that I am only to give 0.5ml. My question is how do you come up with the number to waste. The preceptor put in 0.5ml to waste, but did not exactly explain how she came up with that number, because after the waste was finished another nurses pt coded.

Sorry if this seems like a dumb question, but i am a new nurse and just want to do things correctly. Otherwise, my orientation is going well.

Thanks for your help

[Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN]

Just take the amount you're giving - 0.5 mL in this case - and subtract it from the total volume in the vial. I'm assuming there's only 1 mL (25 mg) in the full vial of phenergan, so you subtract the amount you're giving from the total amount, and waste the rest.