DOSAGE CALCULATION WORKSHEETS Completion of these worksheets is a course requirement Purposes 1 2 These worksheets provide weekly practice for dosage calculation Although the scores on the worksheets do NOT affect your grade all worksheets must be completed to receive your final grade Calculations will be tested on each exam Instructions 1 2 3 Do one worksheet per week and submit it to conference faculty You must show your work Review worksheet when it is returned Clarify anything you don t understand with conference faculty Rounding Some things to remember about rounding 1 Consider measurability of the dose form calculate dose to the closest number that you can measure only scored tablets can be broken in half Assume the tablets in these problems ARE scored capsules cannot be broken equivalents between metric and apothecary systems are approximate rounding is appropriate generally round down if 0 4 or below and round up if 0 5 or above liquid medication can be measured in several ways calibrated medicine cup dropper with markings syringe with needle removed TB syringe for doses 1 ml 3 ml syringe for doses 1 ml and 3 ml consider the type of syringe you would likely use in deciding how to round in general round parenteral medications to the nearest 0 01 if 1ml and to the nearest 0 1 if 1ml 2 For primary IV fluids except high alert medications round to the nearest whole number 3 When choosing from multiple tablets indicate the combination involving the least number of tablets Decimals Decimal points are critical in ordering calculating and measuring dosages Many mistakes are made because of sloppy notation or calculation For clarity USE A 0 BEFORE A DECIMAL WHEN THE DOSE IS 1 ML DO NOT PUT A DECIMAL AFTER A DOSE THAT IS A WHOLE NUMBER NO TRAILING ZEROS 0 5 ml is correct 0 50 ml is not correct Check Your Work These problems are based on usual doses found in the workplace Pay attention to any answer that doesn t make sense to you this is the beginning of the critical thinking skills you are developing That critical thinking alerts you to a possible problem and the need to do further assessment and checking