Calculations

for Nurses!

Take a look around by clicking on the topics above to learn more about dosage calculations and see a variety of common medication calculations. Click on the quiz number to take sample quizzes to assess your skills.

This web site is designed for nursing students and any health care providers desiring to learn more about medication calculations and practice a variety of clinical dosage calculations. This site teaches dosage calculations based on Dimensional Analysis.

Basic Guidelines for Rounding

Round capsules and drops to Whole Numbers	Parts of capsules and drops cannot be administered
Round injectable medications less than 1 mL to Hundredths	Use a Tuberculin syringe which is calibrated in hundredths
Round injectable medications more than 1 mL to Tenths	Use a 3cc or larger syringe which is calibrated in tenths
Always round at end of problem and not while working the problem	The smaller the number the more decimal places should be carried...hundredths place is a general guideline

Guidelines for Rounding Critical Care Meds

Critical care medications are usually administered via pump or controller	If pump can be set to administer meds to the hundredths' place, carry the problem to the thousandths and round to the hundredths
The smaller the number the more important it becomes to not round too soon	This is especially true for pediatric patients

This site was first developed by B. Clark, MS, RN and is maintained by Connie Houser, MSN, RNC-OB, CNE Associate Degree Nursing Instructor at Central Carolina Technical College, Sumter, SC. You can view the CCTC College Web Site for more information about programs at: http://www.cctech.edu

Your input is important! If you have suggestions for this site, problems, additional content that would be useful to you, please let us know!

Revised January, 2009.

Welcome to Med Calc

for Nurses!

Basic Guidelines for Rounding

Practice Quizzes (click on quiz you would like to take)