Drug Calculations: Using the Formula
Section: Drug Calculations: Using the Formula | Numeracy for Nursing Practice | Open Essex
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In this section, we will explore how to use an easy-to-remember formula for solving medication dosage calculations.
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Students mustMark as done
This short tutorial will take you through the basic formula and rules for setting up drug calculations. If solving the problems without a calculator is difficult, then you should work through the resources in Topic 2 - Fractions, Decimals and Percentages.
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Students mustMark as done
This short tutorial will take you through the basic formula and rules for setting up drug calculations involving liquids medicines and injections. If you have understood the fundamental principles of the NHS1 formula, you should find this topic relatively straightforward.
If solving the problems without a calculator is difficult, then you should work through the resources in Topic 2 - Fractions, Decimals and Percentages.
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Students mustMark as done
Some nurses find digoxin and certain mental health medication calculations difficult because the strength on the product labels is often given in micrograms, whereas the patient's dose is often written up in milligrams.
Work through the following document to ensure that you are confident in performing the conversions and setting up and solving the formula.
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Students mustMark as done
Short screencast detailing how to calculate by body weight, from RMIT University.
This screecast shows how to calculate a daily dosage by body weight. Remember that calculations may require you to divide this dose (e.g. 50/mg/kg daily, in four divided doses).
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Students mustMark as done
The following screencast talks you through a couple of straightforward drug calculations involving tablets, including divided doses calculated by body weight.
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