What kind of math do nurses use?

Answer 1

Answer 1

A nurse uses math when she administers medication to ensure the correct doseage.

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Answer 2

A nurse also needs maths so she understands units of measurements such as weight and medication dosages. Nurses will also need to be able to make quick calculations based on patients stats.

Answer 2

It helps by using Math is very important in nursing. You will use it to calculate medication doses, diagnose problems, and many other things. The math involved isn't overly complicated, but you MUST be accurate or you may inadvertently kill a patient with an incorrect dosage.

Answer 3

Let's say: Your patient weighs 143 lbs. Your MD or nurse practitioner has ordered Medication "Y" at 100 micrograms per kg by Intramuscular route. Your pharmacy has sent you 20 milligrams of Medication "Y" in a vial that must be reconstituted by adding a (determined by you in looking at package options) amount of diluent to the 20 ml bottle of powered Medication "Y" to achieve concentrations of possibly: 10mg/ml, 10mg/2ml, 5mg/ml, 2mg/ml. By "mathematics" and reading a Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) or a nursing dosage book you must:

(1) know what your patient weighs in kg

(2) convert micrograms to milligrams or vice versa

(3) be able to multiply and round correctly

(4) determine what concentration to mix

(5) ascertain if this dosage (once you figure it) falls into a safe range be administered Possibly all this math for a single injection. That's one med and a simple one at that. There are titrations you have to figure to a patient's conidition and IntraVenous problems can get fairly complex. Multiply all that by 5, to 25 or 30, meds per patient and multiply by your patient load, let's say 7-10 patients per shift RN. Yeah, the pharmacy is great and does a lot of the work for us these days (thanks:-). But the ultimate responsibility often sits with the person (nurse) who administers the med.

I'd like my nurse and the nurses caring for my family to be able to double check anything that makes him/her uncomfortable. What about in a disaster? Like Hurricane Katrina? Where were the computers and calculators during massive outages? Patients still required care. Mathematics relate to nursing? You bet. And we're not even getting into the critical thinking, so vital, that is fostered by working complex mathematical equations.

Answer 4

Mathematics is a part of daily practice in nursing as used in the following:

*Knowing your total census needs math.

*Drugs and all medications doses calculations needs math.

*Intravenous fluids and other fluids calculations needs math.

*Time of giving medications need math.

*Recording the fluid balance (intake and output) needs math.

*Vital signs checking, recording and monitoring are related to math.

* Monitoring devices calibrations are related to math.

*Calculation of age of gestation (pregnancy) needs math.

*Calculation of expected date of delivery needs math.

*Ovulation period estimation calculation and other obstetrical related factors needs math.

*ECG Monitoring interpretations needs math.

*Checking for the patient's diet with the caloric requirement needs math.

*Interpreting laboratory results involves math.

*Expect conversion of units every now and then and it need math.

*Keeping the supplies and stocks in the unit needs math.

Answer 5

*ANYONE SHOULD EDIT THIS*

Nurses use math for various things like measuring medicines, adding up how many patients they had, buying different utensils such as bandaids, and she/he must know how many she will use in a year so she calculates exactly how many she should buy.

Answer 6

Nurses that give children and babies' there medicine have to use the patients weight to calculate how much medicine to give them.

Answer 7

To calculate medication dosages / IV drips etc.

Answer 8

They must to know "how many of [smthng] exists" .

Answer 9

Chaning Medicenes