1 Liter = 1000 Milliliters
1 Gram = 1000 Milligrams
1 Milligram = 1000 Micrograms
1 Kilogram = 2.2 pounds
Methods of Calculation:
Remember: Before doing the calculation, convert units of measurement to one system.
I. Basic Formula: Frequently used to calculate drug dosages.
D = dose ordered or the desired dose
H = dose on container label or dose on hand
V = form and amount in which drug comes (tablet, capsule, liquid)
Example: Order-Dilantin 50mg p.o. TID
Drug available-Dilantin 125 mg/5ml
Many nurses have difficulty with drug calculations. Largely as a result of they don’t get pleasure from or understand math. Training drug calculations will assist nurses to develop stronger and extra assured math expertise. Many medications requires some kind of calculation previous to administration. The drug calculations vary in complexity from requiring an easy conversion calculation to an extra complicated calculation for medicine administered by mcg/kg/min. Whatever the drug to be administered, cautious and correct calculations are vital to assist stop medicine errors. Many nurses grow to be overwhelmed when performing the drug calculations, once they require some steps or contain life-threatening medicine.
The primary precept is to stay targeted on what you're doing and attempt to not let exterior distractions trigger you to make an error in calculations. It's all the time a good suggestion to have one other nurse double examine your calculations. Generally, nurses have a problem calculating dosages of medicine which might be probably life threatening. This is actually because they turn into targeted on the precise drug and the attainable penalties of an error in calculation. One of the simplest ways to stop that is to do not forget that the drug calculations are carried out the identical means no matter what the drug is. For instance, whether or not the infusion is an enormous bag of nutritional vitamins or a life threatening vasoactive cardiac drug, the calculation is finished precisely the identical method.
Many services use monitors to calculate the infusion rates, by plugging the numbers into the laptop or monitor with a keypad and getting the precise infusion titration chart, particularly for that affected person. For those who use this methodology for starting your infusions and titrating the infusion charges, be very cautious that you've got entered the proper knowledge to acquire the chart. Many errors happen as a result of lack of required knowledge. The nurses then titrate the medicine or administer the medication based mostly on an incorrect chart. A technique to assist forestall errors with any such system is to have one other nurse double examine the info and the chart or to do a hand calculation for comparability. Using computer systems for drug calculations additionally causes nurses to get “rusty” of their talents to carry out drug calculations. It's urged that the nurse carries out the hand calculations infrequently, to keep up her/his math expertise.
