Calling all nurses..
I'm new to nursing and I know this may seem a stupid question but I just wanted to know.. I will be starting my clinicals soon so....
What I understand about Insulin is they are ordered by units. For pens, easy just dial to the desired order, however for the other insulins I've read to just also draw up the desired unit, for example (just making this number up) 30 units of long acting, then you just draw 30 units using an insulin syringe and give to patient. In the other problem I've encountered they're using D/H formula (Eg. 20 units of Regular Insulin. You are using U-100 insulin. how many ml do you give: answer 0.2ml) I was thinking of just drawing 20 units in a bottle. How do I know if I should just draw up the ordered unit or use the D/H formula. Pls explain... I don't want to give the wrong dose. I'm so anxious.
For Heparin, for example, doctor ordered 5,000 units SC. I have 3 choices (5,000/0.2ml) (5,000/1ml) (5,000/2ml) which do I choose? Does it matter?
Pls help I'm so nervous.