HELP !first week in nursing school overwhelming

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i just started nursing school and the pressure is on its been 3 days and we have done so many chapters already .....then i found out we wont be allowed to procede in the program if we dont pass the the dosage exams ...you have to get less than two wrong ...so i was wondering if anybody could offer any advise on how to keep organised ,,minimize the anxiety and the best way to focus on the important stuff and not get flustered and also how to cope with the math .....im not really good in math at all need all the help i can get ............thanks in advance:idea::idea:

there is a sticky thread on the nursing student assistance forum called dosage calculations. here is the link to it (https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/dosage-calculations-88867.html). there are also links there to web pages that have information on how to do dosage calculations.

i will often work calculation problems by dimensional analysis when they are posted on the student forums. just responded to one on the general nursing student discussion forum as a matter of fact (https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/med-calculations-246062.html). you have to know math to 8th grade or pre-algebra level at least. you also have to know how to work with fractions and ratios. i'm listing 3 websites that give you the basic rules of how to work with fractions. math is very logical. it is always worked in a step-by-step process. drug calculations almost always are plugged into the formula of dose desired divided by dose on hand. i underlined the words divided by because they basically mean you are going to deal with a fraction.

now, i saved the worst for last. drug calculation tests never go away. most employers make you take them also as a condition of employment. if you can't achieve a certain score on an employer's drug tests you won't even get to practice nursing in their hospital. the reason for this is that drug errors have become a big issue with medicare, medicaid and the medical insurance carriers. they have collected enough statistics to show that medication errors are responsible for extended hospital stays (translate that to higher costs of care) and deaths (translate that to lawsuits) in some instances. the fact is that many of the really silly questions you will have to solve on these drug tests were once commonly performed, but no longer are. it is good practice to learn to do them though. even the pharmaceutical companies are standardizing the dosages and the measuring systems being used in order to avoid the most common errors that occur.

thanks sooooooooooooooooo much definately will look it up ......:lol2:

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