"Grains" as a unit of measure

[atrex]

Hi,

I am doing the kaplan review, recently took an online review test 150 questions. I think i am not supposed to repost the question word for word as it's a violation of their copy right laws, so I hope that reposting the gist is not against the rules. Please delete this thread if so and accept my apologies if this is not acceptable.

One of the questions basically asked you get an order that has gr. X you have on hand tabs in mg. what do you do.

So you're converting grains to milligrams and giving med, or sending the order back.

i had to go look this rate up, and was wondering

A) How often have you ever seen this in the real world>? is the apothecary system even still used?

B) How likely am I to see this type of conversion on the NCLEX>?

C) gr. is an unacceptable form of documentation as writing by the JACHO standards of abbreviations....the right answer was: give the med at the correct conversion rate, not send the order back. Please help me to understand why this is correct. The book says that it is an acceptable order and the conversion should be done.

any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.

thank you.

[suzanne4, RN]

You no longer see any order for meds in grains, it is not acceptable practice for any physician or practioner to order with. Too many mistakes can be made, as it has been read as grams at times and responsible for overdoses.

It is no longer an acceptable order in the US, not sure how old that your book is. No pharmacy will let an order like this thru as well.

[atrex]

Thank you for the response. Glad to know that i won't see that.

The kaplan book is from 2007. So not sure. Im not going to stress too much over it.

All other math questions are much easier. As they're almost identical to the ones we did in nursing school exams.

Thanks again suzanne. ps not to hijack, but i sent you a pm, and await first email of instruction.

.!.

T-minus 8 weeks and countin!!! yehaaa!!!

[suzanne4, RN]

It is still an obsolete question, JCAHO rules have been in place longer than that.

And in response to your non-hijack question. My program was designed to be done 100% on its own, if you are currently doing Kaplan, then you do not meet my requirements for it.

As well as the fact that the first tip needs to be completed just before my program, and if you are doing Kaplan now, then the first tip was not done on its own.

Sorry, but very strict this way.