Seriously, the apothecary system?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am studying for the NCLEX, and Kaplan is giving me math questions involving grains. I just HAVE to know, is this EVER used IRL?

Thanks for your time!

heron, ASN, RN

4,137 Posts

Specializes in Hospice.

I've seen both codeine and phenobarbital prescribed in grains ... but not lately.

Interesting to know, but not very useful if you have a conversion chart hanging around.

VORB

106 Posts

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I've seen it once -- written by an old doc, of course.

In the real (hospital) world, you dial the pharmacy with such questions and they'll figure it out if it's in reference to a med order.

Be_Moore

264 Posts

Specializes in Pulmonary, MICU.

At my old job (where orders were written, not computer-entered), I thought I saw something prescribed in grains once. It turned out that the MD had poor handwriting (Shocking, right?!) and they had actually written grams.

Penguin67

282 Posts

Every now and then, it pops up. I see it occasionally with aspirin doses. And, the occasional old MD who refuses to order anything in metric. Given the focus on error prevention, I am somewhat surprised that JCAHO allows orders to be written in grains.

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN

3,543 Posts

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I've seen it a couple of times.

I've never seen it since graduating in 2003.

Specializes in OB, NICU, Nursing Education (academic).

The apothecary system is being abandoned in favor of the metric system. At our hospital here (where I teach), apothecary measurements are on the list of DO NOT USE abbreviations.

I teach our school's dosage calculation module. I "mention" the apothecary system; it is not tested on. Students DO have to know how many mL's in a teaspoon, and how many mL's in an ounce, though. I also teach for KAPLAN and have not run into any apothecary questions (in the live course).

lsyorke, RN

710 Posts

Specializes in Med-Surg, Wound Care.

LOL! 60mg=one grain.....4-5 cc in a dram or teaspoon...that's all I know because we had to learn a song about it in nursing school!

Haven't used is since then!

Specializes in ICU.

I've seen it with nitroglycerin tablets (1/150 gr).

Specializes in chemical dependency detox/psych.

Seen it...helped my fellow nursing students at the time interpret....I don't know why, but the old docs in the hospital that I did my training always did the 5 grains, and it stuck in my head that it was equal (approx.) to 325 mg (which is what the pharmacy would supply).

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