How am I supposed to give pills when I have several dosages?

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I encountered a question stating something like if your order says administer 80 mg of Ativan but then you have 1 pill of 40 mg 2 of 20 mg and several of 10 mg. How many pills would you give?

I would give 1 of 40 mg and 2 of 20 mg and 2 of 10 mg to complete 80 mg. This way the patient won't have 8 pills of 10 mg in his mouth. However, I am not sure if I am correct or not and as usual nursing school never wants you to learn from your mistakes because it's too much work to create new questions. 

What do you think is the right answer? Thanks.

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Specializes in oncology.
2 hours ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

as usual nursing school never wants you to learn from your mistakes because it's too much work to create new questions. 

Please rework your answer.  

and PS why create a new question when you cannot get this one correct?

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Specializes in Gerontology.

Redo your math.

and I would seriously be questioning 80 mg of Ativan. 

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1 hour ago, Pepper The Cat said:

Redo your math.

and I would seriously be questioning 80 mg of Ativan. 

this is not a math question or a pharmacology question is how to give meds 

2 hours ago, londonflo said:

Please rework your answer.  

and PS why create a new question when you cannot get this one correct?

Why? They never review questions and right answers that’s a fact. 

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1 hour ago, Pepper The Cat said:

Redo your math.

and I would seriously be questioning 80 mg of Ativan. 

Make it 1 of 40 1 of 20 and two of 10 or so the point is how to give meds not make an addition. All the options were equal to 80 or whatever was the amount to give they were just split in different pills with different dosage. 

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Why are you being so passive aggressive if you don’t like my question don’t answer it is it too complicated to be nice and kind?

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2 hours ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

Make it 1 of 40 1 of 20 and two of 10 or so the point is how to give meds not make an addition. ...

This isn't your original response.

7 hours ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

[...]

I would give 1 of 40 mg and 2 of 20 mg and 2 of 10 mg to complete 80 mg. ...

[...]

(1×40)+(2×20)+(2×10)=100

2 hours ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

... All the options were equal to 80 or whatever was the amount to give they were just split in different pills with different dosage. 

This is a rather lackadaisical attitude, considering the seriousness of the subject. 

2 hours ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

Why are you being so passive aggressive if you don’t like my question don’t answer it is it too complicated to be nice and kind?

Medication administration likely has the highest potential for adverse outcome.

2 hours ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

this is not a math question or a pharmacology question is how to give meds 

[...]

Yes, it is. If you aren't attentive to detail; especially if you work neonatal or pediatrics.  If you don't know who Kimberly Hiatt is you might look her up.

2 hours ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

Why are you being so passive aggressive if you don’t like my question don’t answer it is it too complicated to be nice and kind?

Because medication administration isn't the joke you seem the think it is.

Best wishes.

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1 hour ago, chare said:

This isn't your original response.

(1×40)+(2×20)+(2×10)=100

This is a rather lackadaisical attitude, considering the seriousness of the subject. 

Medication administration likely has the highest potential for adverse outcome.

Yes, it is. If you aren't attentive to detail; especially if you work neonatal or pediatrics.  If you don't know who Kimberly Hiatt is you might look her up.

Because medication administration isn't the joke you seem the think it is.

Best wishes.

Honestly if you don’t understand why I am asking don’t answer but don’t have such a bully attitude. 

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8 minutes ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

Honestly if you don’t understand why I am asking don’t answer but don’t have such a bully attitude. 

I'm sorry you think your being bullied; you're not, nor is it my intent.  However, as I mentioned, I don't think you grasp the seriousness of this.

Again, best wishes.

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16 hours ago, chare said:

I'm sorry you think your being bullied; you're not, nor is it my intent.  However, as I mentioned, I don't think you grasp the seriousness of this.

Again, best wishes.

You are bullying me anyway. You are putting me down and just came to criticize me about a mistake in my math that is not even relevant to the point I am trying to make. Other people answered me and apparently they all thought the same as me. The less amount of pills you use to reach the dosage, the better. They answered me nicely and politely and didn’t try to lecture me so they could feel better because they know they are smart, therefore; they don’t need to put anybody down to feel intelligent.

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Specializes in oncology.
11 minutes ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

Other people answered me and apparently they all thought the same as me.

I don't see their responses.

11 minutes ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

They answered me nicely and politely and didn’t try to lecture me so they could feel better because they know they are smart, therefore; they don’t need to put anybody down to feel intelligent.

Could we see these replies?

11 minutes ago, pepitohonguito87 said:

The less amount of pills you use to reach the dosage, the better.

I agree, but over dosing the amount of medication to give less pills is not the goal of a question such as this. 

On 11/22/2022 at 6:49 AM, pepitohonguito87 said:

it's too much work to create new questions. 

There are many sites posted on the internet with math (pharmacology) questions to work with the calculation (method of arriving at the answer)  and answer posted. Or you can search on here for dosage related questions.  Math is not a language associated skill. 

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On 11/22/2022 at 7:49 AM, pepitohonguito87 said:

What do you think is the right answer? Thanks.

So you're saying that all the answer choices added up to the correct/ordered number of mg?

Simple answer: I would choose the choice that is the correct dose with the fewest number of pills. Just because. Less pills for the patient to take, less messing around with more pills by the nurse theoretically less chance for error. Technically none of the other answers are "wrong."

Maybe there was some kind of distinction you overlooked in the question, but knowing nursing....maybe not. IMO it is full of utterly inane "challenges" like this which are passed off as lessons in critical thinking. ?

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