Rounding and Dosage Calculations

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hi!

I am studying pediatric dosage calculations currently and I am using the Saunder's book. I was always taught that if the answer is less than 1 mL round to two decimal places. However, my answer came to 0.925 mL which I thought would be rounded to 0.93. Is this not correct-- Saunders just rounds it to 0.92. Is it different with children that you never round up?

Thanks a lot!

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On NCLEX, you should be given the rounding factor if needed.

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Nclex won't give you any 'iffy' answers. They'll tell you to round to the nearest tenth.

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Beach girl are there any other math qs beside that Peds section? I couldn't find anymore when I was looking through the book and I thought the book said it had another section for math qs and other section for Peds math section.

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Another question about rounding maybe someone can answer. If the NCLEX specifies round to the nearest tenth, do you round during your calculation, or for your answer. Maybe I'm stressing too much over this but for example if you had a calculation ending you up with 5.25ml x 3 (TID) if you round at for the answer you get 15.75ml/24hr up to 15.8ml/24hr but if you round during the calculation you'd get 5.3ml x 3 = 15.9ml/24hr. Difference of 0.1 that the NCLEX would take wrong?

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Another question about rounding maybe someone can answer. If the NCLEX specifies round to the nearest tenth, do you round during your calculation, or for your answer. Maybe I'm stressing too much over this but for example if you had a calculation ending you up with 5.25ml x 3 (TID) if you round at for the answer you get 15.75ml/24hr up to 15.8ml/24hr but if you round during the calculation you'd get 5.3ml x 3 = 15.9ml/24hr. Difference of 0.1 that the NCLEX would take wrong?

You round the answer

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absolutely, round the answer. rounding in the calculation could throw off your dosage by a significant amt = med error! :crying2:

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From a Ph.D. chemist:

I believe the difference between 0.92 and 0.93 is negligible.

However, when scientists round a number ending in 5, they round to an even number.

Thus 0.925 would round to 0.92 and 0.935 would round to 0.94.

There are 10 possible digits for the ending number. 0 requires no

rounding, 1 to 4 rounds down, 6 to 9 rounds up, and 5 rounds up

half the time and down the other half. If you always round up for 5, your

final answer is slightly biased high.

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I know is is an old thread but this is driving me nuts with all my practice tests! Some programs I've used round up in peds and some drop the second decimal place. Does anyone know what the rules are for this on nclex?

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If the amount of medication to be given is less than 1mL, you always round down. That's at least what we were taught in school.

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We were always taught to round down for peds regardless of the number, but in every practice test I've taken they follow adult rounding rules. I'd hate to miss a question on nclex for this!

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We were always taught to round down for peds regardless of the number, but in every practice test I've taken they follow adult rounding rules. I'd hate to miss a question on nclex for this!

Based on what? Why would you do this different in pediatrics when compared with adult?

I have 10 years pediatric/neonatal experience, and have never done this.

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