So now we know this, how do we convert a percentage to a mg/ml concentration? For example, a 2% lidocaine injection is made up of 2 grams of lidocaine dissolved in 100ml of carrier solution. 50% glucose contains 50g of glucose in 100ml and 10% mannitol contains 10g of mannitol in 100ml of carrier solution. Percentage SolutionsĪ percentage solution is defined as the weight of the solute (in grams) per 100ml volume of drug (aka weight divided by volume or w/v). You can then do the rest of your drug calculation as we discussed above. This is because a milligram is made up of 1000 micrograms. If you're working with a dose in micrograms/kg (mcg/kg) or a concentration in micrograms/ml, you need to divide this by 1000 to get a dose in mg/kg. This is because there are 1000 milligrams in a gram. If you're working with a dose in grams/kg (g/kg) or a concentration in grams/ml, you need to multiply this by 1000 to get a dose in mg/kg. This is because the units either side of the equation must match to do the calculation correctly. Well, if any part of our calculation (either the drug dose or the concentration) is in different units, we’ll need to convert them to perform the calculation. What do we do if part of our calculation is in different units? 2 if it's a BID medication), and then multiplying this by the number of days required. Converting Units Once we've got our dose, we need to calculate the number of tablets needed for the patient's medication course. We do this by multiplying the tablets needed at each dose by the dose per day (e.g. This gives us the number of tablets required for the patient's dose (in reality, this often needs a little rounding to accommodate for tablet size, and how easy it is to divide the tablets). Here we multiply the dose (in mg/kg) by the patient's weight (in kg), then divide by the tablet size (in mg). When calculating tablets, the maths looks a little different. This will give you the volume of medication required for each dose. To calculate a dose of liquid medication (either via injection or an oral solution), simply multiply the dose (in mg/kg) by the patient's body weight (in kg), then divide by the concentration of the drug (in mg/ml). We need to know how to calculate basic drug volumes, convert units, work with percentage solutions and reconstitute and dilute medications. When it comes to drug calculations, there is a lot for the veterinary nurse to consider. Stay tuned as we walk through exactly how to perform all of the common calculations used in practice, so that you can do medical maths quickly, easily and without the headache in practice. I’ve found my own ways to make the maths make sense to me, and I’m here to show you how to do the same. In fact, it’s only been the last few years where I’ve really felt comfortable with calculations. Medical maths was not my strongest subject for most of my veterinary nursing journey. But I’m well aware they are not the most fun topic to learn - in fact, they can be pretty headache-inducing! Calculations are an essential part of our daily nursing life.
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