Rounding IV drip calculations

[myknucklehurts]

I am a second semester student. We are working on Heparin calculations and IV drip calculations. I thought I remember being told in a lecture that you can never round medications up, but now I can't find it anywhere in my notes and some of the online practice quizzes I've been taking allow it.

Please tell me what the rule is for rounding medication calculations.

Thanks in advance.

[dauphins3]

Drip rates should be rounded to the nearest whole number. In our Math for Nurses class, we learned that it depends what type of medications and route of administration you were calculating how you round it. So, some tablets can be scored and broken in half or quarters depending on what med they are. Many syringes take tenths of a milliliter so, you can round to the nearest tenth (we usually rounded up, our instructor's reasoning - if you are at 1.45 mL of Dilaudud, I want that extra tenth of a mL so round it to 1.5 mL, etc). HTH

[halkogirl]

In our program anything 0.50 and above we round up, anything below that we round down. However, if it is a peds patient, then we always round down. Hope that helps!!

[myknucklehurts]

Thanks! I am going to talk to my instructor about how she will be testing us on it.

[DragonflyLady17]

I just did a kaplan ? and drip factor rounded down. I am confused. I rounded up. 18.5 to 19 instead of 18. They said 18 was right.

[LoriRNCM, ADN, ASN, RN]

You can't give part of a drop so anything gtt has to be rounded, and we were taught the basic rounding applies, using your tenth place to round up or down depending on what is in the tenth place.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Drip rates should be rounded to the nearest whole number. In our Math for Nurses class, we learned that it depends what type of medications and route of administration you were calculating how you round it. So, some tablets can be scored and broken in half or quarters depending on what med they are. Many syringes take tenths of a milliliter so, you can round to the nearest tenth (we usually rounded up, our instructor's reasoning - if you are at 1.45 mL of Dilaudud, I want that extra tenth of a mL so round it to 1.5 mL, etc). HTH

You can accurately measure 1.45 mL with a 3mL syringe. Just sayin'. I have always rounded to the hundredths place when drawing up meds.

For drop factors, you can't accurately measure 0.3, 0.5, 0.666667 or whatever it may be of a drop so you HAVE to round to the nearest whole number. Standard rounding rules apply.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

better ask the instructor. When you go to work this info should be in a policy. Whatever you do, record what was actually given, not what was ordered.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Most IVs these days are given on pumps which calculate volume, not drops. You can set tenths of a cc on most pumps, and that's close enough for rounding. Have your instructor teach the class about the difference. You aren't asking her just to know what she's testing you on, you're asking because you need to know how to calculate a drug dose, which is a different skill. :)

[Charlies7711]

I have a question regarding Heparin dosage. I came up with the answer of 0.9975. Would I round that to 1?

Thank you for any help you can give!

[BriMarie95]

I wouldn't... because think about it... if you round up you are adding more medication than you technically calculated and Heparin is a very sensitive medication.

[RNSAINT41]

How can you measure 1.45 ml with a 3 ml syringe? It has 0.1 ml markings not 0.01ml markings!