Published
I assume you are still in school? If your nursing program offers remedial math take it! I never needed it and everyone thought I was crazy for going to a class I didn't need at 7 am. But dimensional analysis was something I didn't really understand. I was doing math in my head and it worked, but dimensional analysis made life sooo much easier! If they don't offer this, see if you can find online tutorials.
Convert the doses to the same unit: either work in grams (g) or milligrams (mg). You can't work in both.
500mg/5mL = 600mg/XmL
(5 * 600)/500 = X
3000/500 = X
6 = X
It's 6 mL.
Seriously, I second everyone who has told you to take a remedial math class. You may think that you won't need to do dosage calculations when you're actually working as a nurse, that your pharmacy will have everything all figured out for you that all you have to do is give the medication.
The reality is that a. you're not always going to have a pharmacy on hand to make up dosages for you, and b. pharmacies DO make mistakes. You need to know how to figure out dosages.
Thanks Merriwhen for helping.
OP you have posted several dosage questions. You might need some extra help with the math. Does your school require dimensional analysis?
Here are a couple of helpful sites
DosageHelp.com - Helping Nursing Students Learn Dosage Calculations
RN_TOBE
34 Posts
A oral solution has a strength of 500 mg in 5 mL. prepare a 0.6g dosage.?
I don't know how to set this math problem up....helppppppp..