Innumeracy

Daisy4RN · Jul 17, 2019

On 7/16/2019 at 4:39 AM, Oldmahubbard said:
Regarding the 125 mg dose, I know you'll be glad to hear a 6 person task force has been created to look into it.

I so wish I could say I am shocked about this but, well, ya know I cant!

Daisy4RN · Jul 17, 2019

On 7/16/2019 at 4:04 AM, not.done.yet said:
I believe it. If you ever want to really have fun, watch someone at a cash register try to make change after the drawer is already open and the machine can't tell them what to give.
In fairness, I do not do math in my head well either. I would be the deer in headlights in that situation.

This also happens if you give the cashier an amount over the total in order to get back just dollars (with out a bunch of change).

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Jul 18, 2019

It's pretty common around here for an MD to order a larger dose of a med from the pharmacy than is actually ordered, typically doubled. For instance if the order is Lasix 20 mg daily the MD will write the order for Lasix 40mg, take 1/2 tab daily. Then the patient can break the tabs in half to get the correct dose or in some cases the pharmacy will halve the pills before dispensing them if the patient requests. This allows the patient to get double the time needed before the next refill and can be a huge money saver for those people with less than stellar insurance coverage for meds as 30 pills in the larger dose often cost about the same or only a little more than 30 pills of the smaller dose. Who would've guessed a little med math could save somebody so much money!

Glycerine82, LPN · Jul 18, 2019

On 7/15/2019 at 6:20 PM, Oldmahubbard said:
An NP I work with couldn't figure out that 150 pills dispensed in the community since February this year did not equal tid dosing.

I mean at first glance it seems like 5 months which would equal 150 tabs, no?

Oldmahubbard · Jul 18, 2019

Just now, Glycerine82 said:
I mean at first glance it seems like 5 months which would equal 150 tabs, no?

TID dosing? no

Glycerine82, LPN · Jul 18, 2019

3 minutes ago, Oldmahubbard said:
TID dosing? no

riiiight missed that part!

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Jul 18, 2019

On 7/16/2019 at 7:04 AM, not.done.yet said:
I believe it. If you ever want to really have fun, watch someone at a cash register try to make change after the drawer is already open and the machine can't tell them what to give.
In fairness, I do not do math in my head well either. I would be the deer in headlights in that situation.

...or give them the dreaded penny to reduce the amount of coins needed to make change. ?

Forest2 · Jul 18, 2019

52 minutes ago, Glycerine82 said:
I mean at first glance it seems like 5 months which would equal 150 tabs, no?

150 tabs divided by 3 a day = ? How many days? LOL, sorry it's just funny.

nursej22, MSN, RN · Jul 19, 2019

Pt had a dose of diazepam 2 mg. ordered, and Pyxis dispensed a 5 mg tab. Hmm.

Used to have a cardiologist order atorvastatin in a 2.5 mg dose. The smallest tablet in the Pyxis was 20 mg, and is oval shaped. This require cutting an oval, non-scored tablet into 8ths. You do it by cutting it crosswise, lengthwise, and then turn it on it’s side and cut one more time.

BSN-to-MSN, ADN, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2019

On 7/15/2019 at 9:16 PM, Davey Do said:
Wrongway pharmacy would dispense two 100mg tabs and have the nurse cut one of them in quarter pieces.
Really.

Oh, yeah, today they gave me 75 of irbesartan and the dose was 25.

BSN-to-MSN, ADN, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2019

2 hours ago, nursej22 said:
Pt had a dose of diazepam 2 mg. ordered, and Pyxis dispensed a 5 mg tab. Hmm.
Used to have a cardiologist order atorvastatin in a 2.5 mg dose. The smallest tablet in the Pyxis was 20 mg, and is oval shaped. This require cutting an oval, non-scored tablet into 8ths. You do it by cutting it crosswise, lengthwise, and then turn it on it’s side and cut one more time.

Yikes!