Overwhelmed with Chem Calculations!!!

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OMG, I cannot explain how many calculations I have to do! No, I am not complaining, it is just as a pre-nursing student I always keep thinking if I will have to do as much calculations when I do become a nurse. Also, most of what I do in chem I doubt I will do as a nurse. But I am here to hear from similar pre-nursing students, nursing students and nurses!

This is what I have to do in chem daily:

1. Calculations/conversions of grams/moles/moles/grams of a substance (quite easy though).

2. Calculations of temperature/enthalpy/entropy/boiling point/freezing point.

3. Calculations of dosages (I got it, need for nursing).

4. Calculations of ppm (parts per million) and ppb (parts per billion).

5. Calculations of pressure, temperature, volume, mass etc of gasses using a series of formulas.

6. The list goes on.

Which calculations out of those described are really important in nursing?

Thank you!

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Specializes in Cardiac.

After looking at your post, I would say that Number one, knowing the relationships between mg/micro-grams, and how to convert lbs to kg are important. Dosage calculations are the bread and butter of nursing. You are accountable for the medicine that you will be administering to your patient. The best thing I learned from chemistry is dimensional analysis. Being able to set up equations and converting from one variable to another will help you with nursing math. The hardest concepts for me is calculating IV drip rates. There are many formulas to use in order to get nursing math correctly. The best part is that if you are unsure of something, you can ask the pharmacy, also some medicine is double checked. (pediatric medicine and chemotherapy) I hope this helps and good luck to you!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Those calculations are just 'building blocks' that are required to achieve an adequate understanding of chemistry concepts. As you progress in your education, you'll draw upon this understanding to accurately interpret what's happening with your patients. For instance, you'll be able to manage dialysis patients because you understand the dynamics of solutes and filtration systems are used to correct osmolarity and normalize body chemistry.

Understanding chemistry is most relevant to maintenance of fluid balance, hemodynamics and nutritional status - but it is also relevant to anything that's occurring at a molecular level. Learning how to learn (macro-cognition) is also a critical aspect of nursing. Throughout your nursing career, you're going to have to be actively engaged in learning on a continuous basis just to stay current.

And... there's always the fun to be had by droning on endlessly about science-y stuff to "dazzle" complete strangers when you have nothing else to do - :up:

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