Dosage!

Published

I am a freshman nursing student. I'm excited and over the summer I attended a Jumpstart program that allowed me to see how to do dosage calculations. I'm worried about this process, because it still looks like ancient greek to me.

My main question is, what are some helpful hints, books or advice does anyone have to offer. I thank you all for your time and understandings :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Nothing we do for calculating medication is beyond very basic algebra. Brush up on conversions and make sure you understand the difference between the amount of medication and the volume form it comes in.

Really I wouldn't hit it too hard. Without the context of pharm or seeing it in clinical it probably won't make much sense to you at this point.

Check out this site, it's helpful! http://www.dosagehelp.com/

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Department.

i admire your eagerness, but i wouldn’t worry about it right now. like anonymousstudent said it is just basic algebra. one thing that i do is underline the important parts of the question when taking dosage tests. more often than not, the questions will supply you with numbers you don’t need, so it helps to eliminate mistakes.

here is another site that may be helpful to you as well - http://home.roadrunner.com/~nurdosagecal/index.html

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

there are formulas to use. memorize them. know them like your name. you plug the info in..& calculate the dosage. Im no math genius, in fact i despise math but i love dosage calc and such. If i can do it anyone can!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Lactation.

I wish I would have worked on remembering conversions before I got to nursing school... like g--->mg is x1000 and mg to g is /1000 and 30 ml in an oz.. try googling conversion tables for nurses. :-)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you all for help. I'm not a math genious but for some odd reason I do really well in it. (Better than english sometimes). I want to stay on top of my game throughout nursing school. Im buying flashcards, using flashcards.com (may have gotten the name wrong) and other sources. I want to be a nurse so bad, that I litterally was about to sell everything I owned down to the shirt off my back just to go to school. I would have walked myself to school if it meant I could be a nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency; med-surg; mat-child.

Check out Khan Academy if you need refreshing in any level of math. Amazing.

One example

Up Vote Up Vote ×

thats a great website. I'll add it to my list of wonders :)

I actually now am able to comprehend a littl more. My instructor taught us a 'box' method where

looking for/1 = dosage ordered/1 x availible/1 = correct dosage. (keep in mind these are fractions)

thats a simplified version, but very useful. I actually think I got it enough to not fear it. One reason why I needed advice and help was because this is the math test (demensional analysis) that I MUST do better than 90% on the first or second try of the test, in order to remain in the program. I worked hard to get where I am today as a person, student and future nurse. I don't want to lose it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion