Help with Dosage Calculations!

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2015

What exactly do you need help understanding? You need to be more specific before we can do anything for you. Ideally, post a few problems, show your answers and your work so far, and then we can see how you're coming along.

vanilla bean · Jun 7, 2015

This website saved my bacon in school when it came to drug calculations: DosageHelp.com - Helping Nursing Students Learn Dosage Calculations

SierraBravo · Jun 7, 2015

I can set up the formulas but the basic math is screwing me up

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you're having trouble doing basic math at this stage of the game, you are in for a long, bumpy ride. You need to sit down with someone who can determine where you are having difficulty. I'd suggest a professor or a fellow classmate who is willing to help...

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Jun 8, 2015

Think of it this way

What you have

and what you need :

What you have is set up as a fraction. What you need is over "X" Cross multiply then divide.

You may want to get some extra help or a tutor to go through it with you a few times. Then you will, when you least expect it, "get" it.

Language math freaks me out......LOL!! Best wishes!

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Jun 8, 2015

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you're having trouble doing basic math at this stage of the game, you are in for a long, bumpy ride. You need to sit down with someone who can determine where you are having difficulty. I'd suggest a professor or a fellow classmate who is willing to help...

Agreed. We can help with individual problems, but if you don't have a firm grasp of basic mathematical principles, you are going to continue to struggle. And this is a real safety issue- you can kill someone if you miscalculate their insulin.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jun 8, 2015

Hello, there. Your thread has been moved to the Nursing Student Assistance forum with the goal of exposure to members who might be able to offer assistance.

SierraBravo · Jun 8, 2015

Think of it this way
What you have
and what you need :
What you have is set up as a fraction. What you need is over "X" Cross multiply then divide.
You may want to get some extra help or a tutor to go through it with you a few times. Then you will, when you least expect it, "get" it.
Language math freaks me out......LOL!! Best wishes!

The OP said she is able to set up the formula (which I'll assume means that she can set up the ratios/dimensional analysis) but is struggling with the basic math.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jun 8, 2015

I am going to step in here and disagree. We see people all the time here who read a word problem, see a bunch of numbers in it, and run as fast as they can to cram every one of those numbers into a formula. There's a huge problem with this approach when aiming towards medication measurement and administration safety: They don't understand what the question is really asking. They have less of a math problem and more of a reading comprehension problem.

The skill you'll want on focus on first is identifying what's really being asked. For example, rather than freaking out when you see a problem like this ...

"Miraclecillin is prescribed for your patient at 10mg/kg body weight. He weighs 220lbs. It is delivered from pharmacy in a bag with 1 gram/500cc to give over two hours. Your IV tubing delivers 16 gtts (drops) per cc. How many cc/hour do you set your IV pump rate?"

... stop and take a deep breath.There's a whole lot of numbers in there. However, stripping it down to, "What are they asking?" you discover that you have to give this bag of 500cc in two hours. If you can't divide 500 by 2 and come up with 250cc/hour, then you are beyond help. But of course, you can do that.

I am assuming you understand the usual equivalents of 1kg = 2.2lbs, 1000 mg = 1 gm, 1000 cc = 1L, 1 hour = 60 minutes, and so forth. Print them out and stick them up over your desk to get used to them.

starvin4u3 · Jun 14, 2015

You are on point !!!! Thanks you

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Jun 21, 2015

So....OP created this account and posted the question almost a year ago. And hasn't been back. Wonder how screwed they ended up being?

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jun 22, 2015

So....OP created this account and posted the question almost a year ago. And hasn't been back. Wonder how screwed they ended up being?

Just to clarify....the account was made 2014 but the first post was this month 2015