Dosage calculation Help!

Nursing Students Student Assist

Published

Hi! Im in my 3rd semester of my ADN program and we just started advanced dosage calculations and i came across some problems that i have no idea how to do. Here it is:

Drug A 10mg ordered. The pharmacy sends up drug A 5mg/2mL. The drug reference states to dilute to a concentration of 1mg/mL and administer at a rate of 5mg per minute.

  • The total volume the nurse will administer is______mL
  • The nurse will add____mL of dilutent to make the appropriate concentration of the drug.
  • Over how many minutes will the medication be administered over?

It is not at all helpful if folks continue to feed you answers. You simply will not learn that way. These folks will not be there to take your dosage calculation tests (passage of which is a non-negotiable fact of nursing school, not to mention patient safety).

That is an extremely simple arithmetic question. If you are not able to think it through, you need to approach your instructor or an advisor to help get you into some sort of remedial tutoring or basic arithmetic class to get you up to speed.

Good luck.

Okay. You are rude. I have 100 questions to answer and I have not been asking help for every one no matter what you "assume." I just wanted to make sure I was doing these right! Did not come here to be judged....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
Okay. You are rude. I have 100 questions to answer and I have not been asking help for every one no matter what you "assume." I just wanted to make sure I was doing these right! Did not come here to be judged....

It is not 'rude' to point out the obvious. You may not like hearing it- but it's not 'rude. You are in your third term of nursing school and cannot do grade-school level arithmetic. That is extremely concerning. You MUST learn to do this or you will never become a nurse. Get to a tutor. Now.

If you want to make sure you're doing the problems right- then tell us what methods you've tried and what answer you got. Just posting questions without any attempt at solving it yourself is not going to fly.

You CAN learn to do these problems. But not like this.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Okay. You are rude. I have 100 questions to answer and I have not been asking help for every one no matter what you "assume." I just wanted to make sure I was doing these right! Did not come here to be judged....

If you want to make sure you're doing these right, then you need to show us your work. Explain how you are setting up the equations. Don't just post the question.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I don't find anything rude about the previous responses. Juat giving you the answers does you a disservice. You say you are working ahead so I assume these types of problems haven't been discussed in class yet. However, surely the textbook can at least give you some idea of how to set up the equation. What have you tried so far? You will find people far more willing to help when you show that you've already made attempts and aren't just looking for your work to be done for you.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You will have a better grasp of the concepts and even a sense of personal satisfaction if you are able to figure out the problems on your own. Straight up giving you the answers robs you of this. We are more than happy to help students but always ask them to share their ideas or show their work so we can see where the deficiency is and go from there. It is not rude to ask you to do this. We would be doing you a great disservice if we didn't. The poster you called out (which is against the TOS by the way) frequently assists students to achieve their goals.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
It is not 'rude' to point out the obvious. You may not like hearing it- but it's not 'rude. You are in your third term of nursing school and cannot do grade-school level arithmetic. That is extremely concerning. You MUST learn to do this or you will never become a nurse. Get to a tutor. Now.

If you want to make sure you're doing the problems right- then tell us what methods you've tried and what answer you got. Just posting questions without any attempt at solving it yourself is not going to fly.

You CAN learn to do these problems. But not like this.

Alright. Sorry for being harsh. I will post my questions with attempts to work out the problem later so everyone can tell me what they think..

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Alright. Sorry for being harsh. I will post my questions with attempts to work out the problem later so everyone can tell me what they think..

You will go far youngling! :up:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Not sure if you understand. I'm on the 3rd semester of an ADN program. We haven't learned much of these things just yet. I'm jumping ahead of my class to get a head start because I'm terrible at math.

Hopefully at least you can add, subtract, multiply and divide. Because that's basic arithmetic and that's really all you need to do this. Everyone can give you their formula, but that really isn't going to help you in a situation in your workplace.

So play with the numbers and develop some kind of system that works for you. You will probably need to spend some time on it. KatieMI's method very closely matches mine. Chare's formula is probably what they will teach you in school, but if I did it that way, I wouldn't trust myself to get the correct result.

Only you know how your head works; figure out a way that works for you. Then when you're doing calculations the official nursing school way, you'll have a way to double-check your result. Never a bad thing about double-checking.

If you can't add, subtract, multiply and divide, then yes, please get a tutor.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Hopefully at least you can add, subtract, multiply and divide. Because that's basic arithmetic and that's really all you need to do this. Everyone can give you their formula, but that really isn't going to help you in a situation in your workplace.

So play with the numbers and develop some kind of system that works for you. You will probably need to spend some time on it. KatieMI's method very closely matches mine. Chare's formula is probably what they will teach you in school, but if I did it that way, I wouldn't trust myself to get the correct result.

Only you know how your head works; figure out a way that works for you. Then when you're doing calculations the official nursing school way, you'll have a way to double-check your result. Never a bad thing about double-checking.

If you can't add, subtract, multiply and divide, then yes, please get a tutor.

Yes, I know how to do basic math. I had to pass math 100 just to get into the program. Sometimes I just don't know when to do what with these.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Moved to the Nursing Student Assistance forum.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you KatieMI for working these out. I'm also in nursing school & have been going through my dosage calculation textbook and practicing.

My book has me studying formulas, but Katie's logical process method is easier for me. It's the lack of exposure to this stuff that makes me doubt myself and get confused.

If I have questions, I'll be showing my work! Or going to a tutor if it gets bad...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

How about this one:

Order: Nitroglycerin 5mcg/min

On Hand: 50mg of nitroglycerine in 250mL of DSW.

Pump Info: Pump will infuse at a tenth of a mL.

Calculate the pump setting or flow rate (per hour)

Well i know that 5 mcg is 0.005 mg so i divide that by 50 mg and multiply by 250 mL and i get 0.025. I know 1 tenth of a mL is 0.1 mL and then im not sure what to do after that.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment