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Discussion

Dosage calculation ???

Okay I'm freaking myself out right now. I took a test today and I'm still thinking about this one problem. More and more I think that I'm wrong but just humor me and tell me, what would you put?

The problem was:

Order: 75 mg

Available: 125 mg tablets

My first answer was 0.6 tablets....which is just wrong..but I just couldn't imagine rounding down to half a

tablet because well, that wouldn't be 75 mg, rather, 62.5. But thennnnn, you can't really give someone 0.6 of a tablet..obviously.

However, in my text, it says that No More than 10% variation between the dosage ordered and the dosage administered. I keep getting conflicting answers and to be honest my head hurts ridiculous amounts from thinking about this so I figured I'd post here.

My sister, who is a nursing student, and my grandmother both say there is more than a 10% variation between 75 and 62.5 but I did some random calculation and got like, 9% variation.....no clue how...let's just say it's been a very long week, I'm feeling pretty depressed and unsure right now and well....

:o aaaand if I failed I might just cry.

(I was super confident on every other question so hopefully I passed regardless of this mess up but oh well)

Featured Replies

I'm sorry to butt in like this....and I'm sorry that I don't have an answer to your question..as I'm a BRAND new student!

But I noticed you're from Hawaii? I'm from Kona...now live in Cali. Sooo Aloha!!!

Good luck!

I am not a nurse, or even a nursing student yet, but I calculate that 62.5 mg is 17% less than 75 mg. If you halved the pill, then quartered one half and gave 5/8ths ( half + 1/4 of the other half) the dosage would be 78.125 mg. I don't know how practical it is to cut 1/2 of a pill into quarters tho'. Just my 2 cents.

M

  • Author
I am not a nurse, or even a nursing student yet, but I calculate that 62.5 mg is 17% less than 75 mg. If you halved the pill, then quartered one half and gave 5/8ths ( half + 1/4 of the other half) the dosage would be 78.125 mg. I don't know how practical it is to cut 1/2 of a pill into quarters tho'. Just my 2 cents.

M

you're right. after sleeping and looking at it again i realized it is 17%. and like i said if there is more than 10% variation you cannot safely give it (or so my text says...)

You cant give 1/4 of 1/2 a pill though. It's the best idea I've heard so far and I actually sat here for a few minutes like..hmm, that makes the most sense!.. so good reasoning... but the tablets wouldn't be scored like that and it would be unsafe to break them up without a score. so again back to square one.

I have no idea what the correct answer would be. The irritating part is I have done hundreds of problems to prepare for this test and not a single one was similar to this so I had no clue what to do. In a classroom setting I could easily ask a teacher for assistance but since this was an entrance exam there was nobody to really ask.

I also will not know what the right answer is, or if I got it wrong because I'm not able to review the test. I really don't know what to do. One question wrong can pass/fail you and I can't take the test again... so it's really imporant..hence the reason I'm freaking out. Any other thoughts? It could be a really simple rule that I'm overlooking but I've read all the pages in my text about breaking tablets and I can't find a single thing regarding a situation like this other than to "ask when a dosage seems unreasonable"

  • Author
I'm sorry to butt in like this....and I'm sorry that I don't have an answer to your question..as I'm a BRAND new student!

But I noticed you're from Hawaii? I'm from Kona...now live in Cali. Sooo Aloha!!!

Good luck!

Aloha :)

I love Kona town! I went there for a basketball tourny in HS..although most of the time was spent up at HPA I still enjoyed Kona.

Good luck with everything you're doing!

i would say it cant be done....either there is a typo....or they are challenging you "critical thinking"......if this order occured in hosp, would refer it back to doc...or other ordering entity......//the only pill i know that comes scored to quarter is captopril......so that you could give a 6.25 dose from a 25 mg tab.........good luck

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