Dose Calc Practice Problems Walkthrough | Tablets and PO Meds

In this video, we're going to walk through a couple of dose calc practice problems. This has been a huge request from our community. So I am so excited to be posting a lot more practice problem videos over the next few weeks for you so that we can make sure that you are super prepared for your dose calc exam. So be sure to subscribe and hit that bell so you get notified when those next practice problem videos go live here on my channel. And let's dive in. So we've got a couple of dos calc practice problems to go through here. Now this is straight out of my dose calc system, so if you're curious about that and getting access to more workbooks and practice problems like this, plus dose calc flashcards that I have, I will put the link down below in the description with the details for all of that so you can check it out if you're interested. So let's go through these practice problems. The first one is your patient, Mrs. Smith is complaining of a headache and asking for ibuprofen for her headache. Her order states that she can get 500 milligrams every six hours. So Q6 hours PRN for pain. You open the med cart and there are 200 milligram tablets and 500 milligram tablets. How many tablets will you give to Mrs. Smith? All right, so always, always, always we are going to follow our dose calc system. Okay? So this is our six step process that we're going to go through to solve these problems. Okay? So the first, the first step always is to figure out what you need to end up with at the end. Now, we always want to start with this because oftentimes what I see and like this was true for me when I was in nursing school is that sometimes I'll look at a dose calc question and I will think I know what they're asking for and it's not what they're asking for. So I don't know, maybe this is just a me problem, but I have seen this happen with a lot of nursing students too, that you solve for the wrong thing in dose calc problems. That's a really common issue. So we always want to start with what we need to end up with at the end. What is the question asking us? So the question ask is asking us here, how many tablets will we give to Mrs. Smith? So we're looking for tablets. So here I wrote out need and we need tablets, so we need to end up with tablets at the end. Now second, the second step is the Order. What does the order say? Like, what are we starting with here? Okay, so the order is that she needs 500 milligrams. Okay? 500 milligrams every six hours for pain as needed. PRN. So 500 milligrams is the order. So the order is going to go on the left hand side of your paper. So I wrote out the order here, 500 milligrams. So the what we need to end up with at the end, that goes on the right hand side of the paper. The order goes on the left hand side of the paper. Okay, so the order is 500 milligrams. We need tablets. Okay, now step three is to figure out what conversion factors we need to use. Well, we're always going to look at the question and see what's available to us. But also I have a dose calc cheat sheet for you that has the conversion factors all written out for you. So that could be helpful. I'll put the link down below this video for you so you can snag that because that'll be really helpful for you to learn all your conversion factors. I also have a whole video on it you can check out. Pop up a card right up here for you. I did a whole video on the conversion factors that you have to know about in nursing school because they don't give those to you during your exam. You actually have to know them going into your exam. So step three is to walk through the conversion factors to get from, from what was ordered to what we need to end up with. So we were ordered 500mg and we need to end up with tablets. So the question, we're gonna look at the question and see what conversions they give us. Okay, so they give us 200 milligram tablets and 500 milligram tablets. So one tablet is equal to either 200 milligrams or one tablet is equal to 500 milligrams. Okay? So here we need 500 milligrams. That's the order. And then we're trying to convert that to tablets. But we can see in the question, this is kind of an easy one. We can see it in the question that there is one tablet that is equal to 500 milligrams. So what we will do is put that conversion in the middle. Okay? One tablet is going to go at the top and then the 500 milligrams is going to go on the bottom. And the reason for that, my friend, is that you need milligrams to cross out. So milligrams need to cross itself out. So we need it on the top and on the bottom. And when you do that, they basically, like, erase each other. They cancel each other out. That's the phrase I was looking for. So if you have it on the top, have milligrams on the top and milligrams on the bottom, then they cancel each other out. They no longer exist. You can think of it that way. And so then we are left with just tablets on the top, exactly what we want. So one tablet is equal to 500 milligrams. So one tablet on the top, 500 milligrams on the bottom, and those milligrams cancel each other out. Now we are just left with tablets. All right? And tablets is what we need to end up with so we know this is where we can end. Now step four, okay? So step one was, what do we need? What do we need to end up with? And that was tablet. Step two is what was ordered. What are we starting with? What did the prescriber order? And that was 500 milligrams. Now, step three, we did our conversion. One tablet over 500 milligrams. And now step four is to multiply and divide. Okay? We're gonna multiply across the top, multiply across the bottom, and divide those two numbers. Okay? So when we multiply across the top, this is what's so great about this dimensional analysis method. It's not the formula method, which, if you've been around here for five seconds, you know that I am so, so, so against using formulas in nursing school because they will break as you. As you go through your nursing program. Formulas will fail you at some point. They are very difficult to memorize. They are very difficult to figure out what formula to use for what problem. But the key is really dimensional analysis. What we call the railroad track method is how we set these things up. It's so much easier once you get it down. So that's why we teach it that way. So you will multiply across the top, multiply across the bottom, and then divide those two numbers. So we multiply 500. What I put 500 times one. 500. 500 times one is 500. And then 500 times one, this would be over one. Here is 500. So we're multiplying across the top, multiplying across the bottom. So 500 over 500. What do we get when we divide 500 by 500? We get one, because 500 by 500 is one. So we end up here with one tablet. Okay? So first Step, what do we need to end up with? Second step is the order. Third step is a conversions. Fourth step is multiply and divide, okay? 500 divided by 500 gives us one. Okay? So one tablet. Now the fifth step is rounding rules right here. It's a whole number. We're looking for one tablet. There's no, nothing that we need around here. It's not like we're dealing with IVs or milliliters or drops per mil or whatever. We're just dealing with tablets here. So we're not going to round this number. It's. It's one. That's what it is. And then step number six is to actually go back through and rework the problem. So check your work, check your math. So always, always, always, you want to make sure that you are checking your math on your doscock exam and in clinical practice. Because we do not want to make any med errors, right? Like, med errors are a no go, okay? And in order to not make med errors, either on your DoSCAL exam or in real life, we want to make sure that we are double checking our work, right? So the order states that she can get 500 milligrams. Okay? So that's what we're starting with, 500 milligrams. What we need to end up with is tablets. How many tablets will you give to Mrs. Smith? So we need tablets. We're starting with 500 milligrams. Our conversion is one tablet is 500 milligrams. That's what we have in the med cart, 500 milligram tablets. And then we multiply, divide, multiply across the top. 500 times one is 500. 500 times one on the bottom is 500. And then divide 500 by 500 gives us one. Okay? So that is all correct. We have one tablet to give to Mrs. Smith. Good job, my friend. Now this is something fancy. I wanted to rework this problem and walk through. What would we do if we didn't have those 500 milligram tabs in the med cart? What if it was just 200? So what would we do? So let's walk through that. Okay? Here we're going to start with need again. So we need tablets. Right now the order is still 500 milligrams. Now the conversion step number three. One tablet is equal to not 500 milligrams. But what if it was 200? What if we used the 200? What if we were out of 500 milligram tablets? What if we only had the 200 available to us. Well, this is where you would put that here. Excuse me. One tablet, 200 milligrams. Okay? So if the order was 500 milligrams, the conversion is one tablet is 200 milligrams. Then what we're going to do, step number four, is to multiply across the top, multiply across the bottom, okay? So 500 times 1 is 500. Then 200 times 1 is 200. Okay? Now multiply and divide, right? This is step number four. 500 divided by 200, okay? Multiply across the top, multiply across the bottom. 500 divided by 200 gives us 2.5. All right? So it's two and a half tablets, 2.5 tablets. When we multiply across the top, multiply across the bottom gives us 2.5. Okay? Now step number five is to round, use our proper rounding rules. But here, with tablets, we are not going to round. This is a. It's already a round number. We don't need to round this one because it's tablets, 2.5. That is a perfect. That is a perfect answer. That is the correct answer. So then the next step, so step six is to check your work. So we need tablets. The order is 500mg conversion. Let's see you open the med cart. There are 200 milligram tablets, right? We are not looking at that 500 milligram number. One tablet is 200 milligrams. So we're going to multiply across the top, multiply across the bottom, divide. So 500 times 1 is 500. 200 times 1 is 200. So 500 divided by 200 gives us 2.5. So that is the correct answer, my friend. Okay, here's the next practice problem. Mr. Roth, your patient is ordered for one gram of acetaminophen via IV every six hours around the clock. ATC not to exceed four grams in 24 hours. Following his appendectomy, you go to hang his acetaminophen and Mr. Roth asks you how many milligrams of Tylenol he is getting this time? How many milligrams are you giving Mr. Roth? Okay, so what we're always gonna start out with, right, is what do we need? Okay, we don't wanna just look at this question and make any assumptions, right? We're not gonna make assumptions when we go to answer a nursing exam question that will get us into trouble. So we wanna make sure that we know exactly what the question is asking, right? So how many milligrams are you giving Mr. Roth? So that's what we need to end up with. We need milligrams, right? So the step number one is always what do we need to end up with at the end? Okay, we need milligrams. Now step two, what is the order? Well, the order is for one gram of acetaminophen, one gram. So that's our order is one gram. So one gram goes on the left hand side of our paper and milligrams goes on the right side of our paper. Right. So what we need to end up with is on the right side. The order is on the left. Okay. Now in the middle we have to put our conversions. So our conversions here, we always, like I said before, we always want to look at the question to see if they give us any conversion factors. But sometimes they don't. If there's nothing that they want to give, that's fine. Your dose calc exam are always going to give you your conversion factor. So we have to know these ahead of time. Okay? So here, let's read through the question again, see if they give us any conversion factors. So Mr. Roth, your patient is ordered for one gram of acetaminophen and every six hours not to exceed four grams in 24 hours. You go to hang his. His acetaminophen and Mr. Roth asks you how many milligrams of Tylenol he is getting this time. So how many milligrams are you giving? So there's no conversion factors listed here in this question. Okay, so we have to think to ourselves, what is the conversion that we're going to use? We need to go from grams to milligrams. All right, now here is where it's really, really important that you have these memorized in your mind. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this video, I actually have a free GG for you to help you with this because there are a lot of conversion factors to memorize. So be sure to snag that cheat sheet. I'll put the link down in the description so you can snag that if you think that that would be helpful for you. But these conversion factors are really, really important to know for you to pass your dose cock exam. They're not going to give them to you at the test. You just have to know them. So be sure that you be sure that you memorize them before you go take your test. So the conversion factor here that we can think of, how do we get from grams to milligrams? Well, if we know the conversion factor that there are a thousand Milligrams in one gram. Then that gets us there, right? So we need to go from 1 gram to milligrams in order to get there. We need to know the conversion factor. There are 1,000 milligrams in one gram. Okay? So here's how we're going to do this. One gram, right? Like we said, goes on the left hand side of our paper. And then we put the conversion factor here in the middle. So 1,000 milligrams over grams, over one gram. So there are 1,000 milligrams in one gram. Okay, so when we put grams here at the top and then put the conversion with grams here on the bottom, what happens when the same thing is on the top and the same thing is on the bottom? Like we said before, they cancel each other out. They erase each other. So we are done with grams. They no longer exist. I really like that. So they no longer exist. We are not worried about grams anymore because they cancel each other out. Now what are we left with? We're left with milligrams, which is perfect because that is what we want, right? We want to end up here with milligrams. That's what the question is asking us for. So one gram grams cross each other out. So we put 1,000 milligrams over one gram. Okay? So that's step number three. Step number one is what do we need? Step number two is what is the order? Step number three is what are the conversion factors that we need to use. Now step number four. This is where this process of dimensional analysis or the railroad track method really shines. Multiply across the top, multiply across the bottom and then divide. Okay? One gram times one thousand is a thousand. A thousand times one is a thousand. Now, one times one is one. Okay, so one thousand divided by one gives us one thousand. So multiply across the top, multiply across the bottom, and then divide those two numbers, easy as that. So we are left with here at the end, 1,000 milligrams. So 1 gram of Tylenol, 1,000 milligrams,. Now step number five is to round appropriately, make sure that we are rounding our numbers properly. But here in this question, it's 1,000 milligrams. There's nothing to round. That's a whole number. We're not going to round it. It's beautiful just how it is. There's no need to round. It's not like we're going to round to 2000mg. Doesn't work that way. So it's a whole number already 1,000 milligrams. Okay. All right. And then step number six is to always check your work. Okay? I cannot tell you how many times my friend I sat in a dose calc exam. Actually, one time I was so sick when I took a dose calc exam. Like, I came into. I think I missed class that day. I just came in for the dose calc test. I was so, so sick. And I took that does calc exam. And man, like, I will tell you, I. Like, my brain was foggy. I did not feel good. Like throbbing, pounding headache, you know, like, you've been there. Right? But that's. Those were the conditions that I was taking this dos cock exam in. And I cannot tell you, like, I reworked those problems and reworked those problems to make sure that I was correct because I did not want to fail that exam. Right, like you do not want to fail your dos cock exam in nursing school. That would not be a good thing. So always, always double check your work because that saved my booty. So, so many times in nursing school. Seriously, like, it'll save you. You want to make sure you pass your dose exam. And following step six, rechecking your work is the way to do that. So we're going to rework it again. What do we need to end up with? We need milligrams. What's the order? One gram. The. The doctor ordered one gram of acetaminophen via IV every six hours around the clock. Okay, so. So it's ordered for one gram. Okay. Now, even though it says not to exceed 4 grams in 24 hours, that doesn't matter here. We're just trying to go for that 1 gram. Great, because that's what we're giving. We're giving 1 gram of Tylenol, but we're not going to exceed 4 grams in 24 hours. But that's not what the question is asking about. The question is asking about how many milligrams are we giving to Mr. Roth right now? Right? One gram. So the order is one gram. That what we need to end up with is milligrams. How many milligrams are we getting now? The conversion factor. We know because you downloaded that dose cock cheat sheet, right? So you know your conversion factors. 1000 milligrams is over one gram. 1000 milligrams is equal to one gram. So we multiply across the top one gram times 1000 is 1000, and then one times one is one. 1000 divided by one is a thousand. So perfect. Beautiful. We did it correctly. This Problem is correct. So my friend, like I said, it is so, so important to recheck your work just to make sure that you got it correct. Because there will just be so many times in nursing school where you might think that you are doing it right, but a number might be off or maybe you missed a decimal point or something. And in the next few weeks I'm going to posting more of these practice problem videos because they have been such a huge request from our community. So I'm really excited to bring those to you more often. And you'll see in those future videos that we're going to go through more IV problems and things like that that are a little more intricate than what this is. This is just the basics here with PO meds and tablets, but when you get into kind of higher levels of dose calc math, especially things like my heparin and Pitocin as you go on into med, surgeon ob, like those can get complicated. So you'll see over the next few weeks as we go through more videos double checking, your work is going to be key, key, key for you to make sure that you are rounding correctly, that you're not losing a decimal and that you're writing your answer appropriately. Okay, so for this question here, 1,000 milligrams, that is the correct answer. Rounding rules are correct, everything is correct. So we're good to go. So we talked a the dose cow conversions that you need to know to pass your dose calc exam. And I actually have a whole video that walks you through the must know conversion factor. So definitely check that video out right here because they don't give those to you during your exam. You have to know them ahead of time and I'll explain all of that in that video so you definitely don't want to miss it. And if you love this video, please please, please write love in the comments below. I love to hear from you and I will see you over there in that next video.