Elementary students need your help

RNCCMMS, RN · Apr 20, 2011

most of the math that is needed in nursing school involves drug calculations using simple arthimetic skills or basic algebra(ratios). typically in facilities, the pharmacy figures the doses and rates for you, but it is a good idea to understand and be able to to do it yourself, as a double check, in case of errors. a lot of the equipment used does the calculations for you once you enter the parameters. you may have to do height/weight conversions between pounds/kilograms and inches/centimeters.

FrogKissingNurse · Apr 20, 2011

Here is an example: your patient needs 40mg of lasix but you only has lasix 80mg so you would give a half of a tablet.

Or you use math to set up the IV pumps. 1000ml needs to given at a rate of 30ml/hr. You need to know how long it will take to give the entire 1000ml

loriangel14, RN · Apr 20, 2011

Some medications are ordered as xml per kilogram of body weight as well. Or you may get an order for 0.06mg of something that comes in 2mg/ml vials.

JugglesLife247 · Apr 20, 2011

You need to take college algebra and a statistics class as prerequisites for most nursing programs.

LouisVRN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

Yeah the math I think that a 4th grader could understand would be things like. Pt needs 80mg Oxycontin. Your pharmacy stocks 20mg tablets, how many tablets will the pt need? If the pt gets this dose twice a day and has an estimated stay of 3 days how many tablets should you request from pharmacy.

Also math like you have 4 hours to complete a blood transfusion. You are transfusing blood at a rate of 100 cc/hr for 15 minutes, 120 cc/hr for 15 minutes, 150cc/hr for 1.5 hr when your IV goes bad. It takes 1/2 an hour to re-establish an IV site. Assuming your total blood volume to be infused was 400cc, how much blood is remaining. What is the minimum rate you can infuse the remaining blood at in order to meet the 4hr deadline?

College algebra (although personally I think you should have more). I took 4 years of calculus. Do I use it, no, but its a nice background to have.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

Basic math. You need to calcuate how much patient drank at lunch. He had a bowl of soup -250ml, 1/2 glass of juice - I full glass of juice is 180 ml plus he had a cup of coffecc - 100 ml. How much did he drink?

He peed 350 cc of urine. Did he pee more than he drank or less?

Jolie, BSN · Apr 20, 2011

Thank you for making math relevant to these kids!

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

I have to agree with Jodie-THANKS for making math something that kids need to know in order to relate to adults in the workforce.

Nursing math is mostly drug calcs. I am not sure if elementary school kids would understand that, and I am not sure if your students are advanced learners. Please don't be offended that I simplified some of my questions, because I am only guessing what level your kids are learning as of now. Here is what I came up with:

The nurse is working with one more nurse on a unit with 20 patients. If both nurses come to work at 7am, and can only take 7 patients each, how many patients would the nurse that comes in at 9am have to take?

The nurse has to give 3 pills each to one patient three times per 12 hour shift. How many pills would the nurse give the patient in a 12 hour shift?

A nurse has 5 patients and must have one aide to help her with nursing duties. If there are 25 nurses working at the clinic, how many aides would be working? (OK, that was a trick question. I threw in the # of patients to see which students would catch it!)

The nurse is giving liquid medication to a patient. The full dose is 60ml. She is reading the doctors order and it says to give 15 mls. If the dose comes in a 60 ml cup, how much would she have to pour out in order to come up with the correct dose?

A nurse has a patient with high blood pressure. The top number is 160. The bottom number is 100. The doctor wants the blood pressure to come down to 120/70. How many points must the blood pressure come down on both the top and the bottom numbers in order to reach the goal pressure?

A nurse is working all over the hospital! She must walk from the Cardiac Unit (800 feet) all the way over to the Pediatric Unit (400 feet) and then back to the cafeteria for lunch (600 feet). She will then have to walk over to the Pharmacy (335 feet) to get medication, then to the Surgical Unit (944 feet). How many feet did she walk? Do you think her feet hurt?

That's all my little brain could come up with. I hope you have a fun class regarding this! I wish I could be there to watch their little faces!

Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

Oh, you would be surprised what 4th graders are learning now. I have a 3rd and 5th grader (and don't even ask about what the 8th grader is learning:) ). At least where I live, alot of the math is in the form of a story problem, so even the more advanced problems would be within their abilities.

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Apr 21, 2011

I am a Director of Nursing in a nursing home. My math work every morning is a little different. I have a staffing budget that I am required to keep in line (if I don't, they will fire me). I am allowed to have 2.9 hours of care per patient per day. This would include all nurses/nurses aides involved with an individuals care in a 24 hour period. I have 60 patients and all staff works 8 hours. From there I have to figure out the best staffing patterns that allows me to stay within my budget but yet meets the needs of all the patients. Simple math...tough politics!

NightOwl0624 · Apr 21, 2011

So nice to inspire kids with real life situations!

I hope the kids are paying attention... I was floored in my nursing program at the number of students who struggled with the most simple math concepts. My fifth grader at the time could figure out most of the problems. Maybe we just forget as time passes by?