Hi. I have a question for all of you nursing students who have learned some clinical calculations. I am wondering what method you were taught for solving the problems? I am starting nursing school in August and have been reading Clinical Calculations A Unified Approach by Daniels and Smith. This book teaches dimensional analysis, doing conversions until the resulting answer. For Example:
Order: Sulfisoxazole 0.25g po
Label: Sulfisoxazole 500mg/tab (scored)
How many tablets should be administered?
This is how I have learned to set it up:
0.25g X 1000mg X 1tab
1g 500mg
(Edited to say: this is not letting me set this up right. The 1g should be under 1000mg and the 500mg should be under the 1 tab.)
1)xtabs is what your looking for so you set up a fraction with what your looking for always in the numerator (capsules, ml, etc) and the strenght in the denominator(500mg)
2)in the second fraction convert the mg to grams in the with what ever metric unit is in the first denominator (mg) to your second numerator and what ever your converting to in the denominator (g)
3)in the last fraction you should have the ordered doasge in the numerator(which is also the metric unit in the second denominator) over one
xtab = 1tab x 1000mg x 0.25g
_____ ______ ______
500 mg 1g 1
you'll know if you have the information correct if mg cancel mg and g cancel g and your left with your x ( which is tabs)
1)xtabs is what your looking for so you set up a fraction with what your looking for always in the numerator (capsules, ml, etc) and the strenght in the denominator(500mg)
2)in the second fraction convert the mg to grams in the with what ever metric unit is in the first denominator (mg) to your second numerator and what ever your converting to in the denominator (g)
3)in the last fraction you should have the ordered doasge in the numerator(which is also the metric unit in the second denominator) over one
xtab = 1tab x 1000mg x 0.25g
_____ ______ ______
500 mg 1g 1
you'll know if you have the information correct if mg cancel mg and g cancel g and your left with your x ( which is tabs)
4myfam
11 Posts
1)xtabs is what your looking for so you set up a fraction with what your looking for always in the numerator (capsules, ml, etc) and the strenght in the denominator(500mg)
2)in the second fraction convert the mg to grams in the with what ever metric unit is in the first denominator (mg) to your second numerator and what ever your converting to in the denominator (g)
3)in the last fraction you should have the ordered doasge in the numerator(which is also the metric unit in the second denominator) over one
xtab = 1tab x 1000mg x 0.25g
_____ ______ ______
500 mg 1g 1
you'll know if you have the information correct if mg cancel mg and g cancel g and your left with your x ( which is tabs)