Learn Nursing Math -- Drug Calculation
As a nurse you need to learn nursing math which are your drug calculations. Your drug calculations are critical because if you make a mistake you will make a medication error that could harm, kill or at the very least not be therapeutic for your patient. It is also important to learn nursing math to understand your pump settings and for patient education. Even if the pyxis or the pump calculates the values, you will still need to explain the dosage to the patient.
Nursing math is not hard. It is basically ratio/proportion and basic algebra. The other thing you need to be concerned with is converting from one unit of measure to another. You need to make sure you label each step along the way so that you don't get confused.
If it has been awhile since you have taken a math class or you have always sucked at math I recommend visiting my basic math review. There is also a great site that uses interactive tutorials to teach you basic math through intermediate algebra.
This page has three calculators for nursing math and drug calculations. What is special about these calculators is that they are not here just to give you the value, but to show you the steps to learn how to calculate the value on your own. I strongly recommend you have your drug calculation/nursing math book with you as you use these calculators (for simple explanations see Dosage Calculations examples ). There are three main ways to calculate dosage and all them are correct. This page does not go into them, but shows you the math that is used with them all. Use whichever method you understand the best. These calculators are designed to help you learn nursing math, but are not to be used in the clinical setting. As a nurse you are responsible for the dosage calculation, not this site.
Simple Medication Dosage Calculator
The first dosage calculator can be used for oral medications and injections. First, use some common sense. You will never give 100 pills to your patient and tablets can be cut in half, but not into sixteenths. To use this calculator first look at your medication order and insert the dosage amount in the first text box and select the appropriate units, mg or mcg. Then select the appropriate values for the medication available or "on hand". Select whether it is tablets or ml and click on the Do Math button.
IV Medication Dosage Calculator
This calculator is to help you learn dosing calculations when using an IV pump. It works similar to the last one. To use this calculator first look at your medication order and insert the dosage amount in the first text box and select the appropriate units, mg or mcg. Then enter the amount of time needed for the infusion and select the time unit, minutes or hours. Next, select the appropriate values for the medication available or "on hand" and the amount of fluid volume. Then click the Do Math button. Please note that VTBI means volume to be infused.
Calculating Drip Rate
Now that we have the pump settings we can figure out the drip rate if you are nursing somewhere in the jungle that does not have a pump. These are a favorite of NCLEX and nursing instructors everywhere. In the first box enter the rate you obtained from the last calculator then enter your drop factor, the amount of drops that equal 1ml then click Do Math.
If you are having a hard time with this I recommend.
Calculating Drug Dosages: An Interactive Approach to Learning Nursing Math (Workbook with CD-ROM)
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