Miguel Said:

Math used in ER nursing.?

We Answered:

The math requirements are the same regardless of the degree you have working in the emergency room.

Without getting into a whole long essay (as there are entire textbooks about this nursing students use) the two big calculations that I use are dose on hand vs. dose ordered...

example: if the doctor orders 15mg of a drug (in liquid form) and all I have is 20mg in 5mL of liquid, how many mL's do I give?...

answer: 3.75mL (4mg per mL of medicine x 3.75mL = 15mg)

The other calculation I use is a little more complicated and I use it for medicines that infuse continuously over a period of time, and are sometimes based on that person's weight (like x number of micrograms per kg per minute) or not (like giving x number of miligrams per hour). Unfortuantely I can't think of an easy way to show the formula as it involves division and multiplication, but I found a website that has it (and other formulas I use less frequently)

(a note on the website: when it refers to gtt, or gtts that means drops---like how many drops are coming down in the little drip chamber on the iv tubing, and tubing comes in different sizes: like there is tubing that is 10 gtts (drops) per mL, or 60 gtts (drops) per mL, etc.)

Dustin Said:

Nursing, profession, career, or job???

We Answered:

a) If you get paid, it's a job.
b) If you get paid and it uses a large body of knowledge or requires specialized skills, it's a profession.
c) If it looks like a) and b), and uses your unique talent, has to do with something (subject, cause, industry, etc.) that you're passionate about, and makes you feel like you're doing something important (that contributes to a better world), then it is definitely a career!