Hey everyone!  Today we're gonna go over
Pharmacology Basics and math we're gonna
go over conversions and then lots of
practice questions.
You're watching me
Dr. Kendall Wyatt from Paramedic to
Registered Nurse
now turn physician I've been told I'm
kind of nerdy but that's only because I
never stop learning if you'd like to
check out something I've been part of
the past few years
check out Picmonic, the link is in the
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exam.
Today we're gonna go over
conversions now not just one or two
conversions we're gonna go over a bunch
of different conversions you need to
know and these are the but most basic
things you really got to get started
with in nursing school and then lots of
practice questions to get them to get
get you comfortable so you can get
started and I don't know be great at
math because isn't that what everybody
wants to do be great at math right yeah
first off I just want to kinda show you
this chart it's got lots of stuff on it
lots of numbers really it's all the
stuff you need to remember now we've got
a little link down in the bottom of the
video so you can go and download two
pages of all of these things you need to
know but this is the core of it and then
a couple of the other charts that we're
going to show you later so as we get
started in conversions the first thing
is the lovely us system right well the
us you know it likes to be special and
so we have our own system and it's
really important that you need to
remember eyes a lot of different numbers
now there really aren't that many to
memorize but if you don't use them all
the time they're hard they're hard to
remember they're hard to keep track of
well the first thing is our else's so
ounces you've got to kind of member that
one ounce is equivalent to thirty
milliliters now almost everything in
medicine is milliliters that you're
going to see it's not until you go in
the nursing world we have these
calculations on your tests but also the
things you need to know are typically
asking all of the things in the u.s.
system and asking you to convert to MLS
so at the most basic if you know
milliliters one ounce it's about 30 ml
now I'm gonna ask you again later but
technically if you want to get technical
it's like 29 point something but you can
remember 30ml that's what you need to
remember one ounce is 30ml now as we go
bigger in the u.s. system 30ml one ounce
right well then we go to cup
well how many Ounces are in a cup well
there's eight ounces in one cup so one
little cup cup cup cup cups there's
eight ounces in there you got to
remember that so if I were to ask you
how many milliliters are in a cup you
would be able to remember right well the
thing you've got to do is calculate a
lot of these things for all of your math
equations and this is what we're gonna
do as we go through this and then we're
gonna get a little bit more complex as
we go along of course so how many ml's
are in one cup well you can know of
course that one cup is equal to how many
ounces right well one cup is equal to
eight ounces so eight ounces but eight
ounces doesn't equal amounts right
milliliters no so what you need to do is
you've got to take your one cup and
remember that it's eight ounces so one
cup equals eight then you take your
eight ounces and you multiply that by
how many ml's are in each ounce which is
30 so 30 times eight would give you 240
milliliters so this is pretty basic but
you've got to get this concept and what
I like to always do is you have to say
well in any question that you run up
against you've got to just stop and say
what is the question asking me what's
the form that it's asking me well the
question is asking me in MLS that
questions me asking in how many paper
sacks of something right no not really
but what if it did you've got to know
that what is it asking me what unit of
measure is asking me and then you've got
to say what unit of measure do I have
well if you have cups and you've got to
get two MLS
well you got to get there some way now
maybe you already knew that it was 240
ml great don't try to memorize all of
those different numbers because way too
much you've got to be able to quickly
break it down one cup is eight ounces
eight ounces is 30ml one times eight and
eight times 30 is 240 so you get 240 MLS
so let's go ahead and move up to some
bigger ones so we have cups cups are fun
right cup cup cup but also we've got
now the only pine I know is never mind
we're not gonna go there but one pint
well what's the size of a pint well a
pint is equal to 2 cups 2 cups equals
one pint how much is a cup again how
many ounces 8 so if you were if I were
to ask you how many Ounces are in two
cups well then you say 2 times 8 is 16
16 ounces is a pint right that's exactly
right and that's what you've got to be
able to calculate these through now the
next size up is one quart one quart is
equal to two pints you see a pattern
here
two cups to pints one quart right just
kind of gets bigger now what if I was to
say we go to gallon well so how many gal
how many quarts now are in a gallon one
gallon is equal to four quarts and
that's where it just gets confusing so
what I always remember is that two cups
to pints four quarts and I kind of
remember that because you know they get
bigger but two plus two is four so two
cups to pints use four quarts so that's
where I remember the sizes and I get it
mixed up and I always have to stop and
think and really think about the layers
of how they go every single time even
even now I stop and I have to look at my
fingers and I can't even remember from
my left from my right someday so don't
feel bad now what if I asked you how
many Ounces are in a gallon now maybe
you memorized it okay fine
that's not what you really want to do
because it's a lot of numbers and the
likelihood that you mess those up just
it grows exponentially the more numbers
you try to memorize but if you know how
many sizes are in each one then you can
calculate so one gallon is equal to 4
quarts right so 4 quarts and you could
say well how many cups are in a gallon
you could do that and then calculate
that by 8 that's what you want to do but
what I like to do is just think through
the whole thing so I say 1 gallon equals
4 quarts and 1 quart equals 2 pints
when pine is 2 cups and one cup is 8
ounces and 1 ounces 30 ml just like we
did over here right and what you can do
is you can multiply all the numbers so
for 4 quarts times 2 pints times 2 cups
equals 16 cups right 16 cups in one
gallon and if you remember 16 cups you
could memorize that number that's a good
one to remember then you could say that
16 times 8 ounces in each cup times 30ml
would give you 3,000 840 MLS now
remember the 30 MLS is an estimate it's
like 29.6 something I can't remember it
out I've got it on a slide here but I
never remember i's dit because i know
it's about 30 and that's what you really
got to remember because it's an estimate
you're not gonna get super finite
numbers like that most most of the time
inside of inside of the math but here it
is again just to show you that all of
these all the way across the board are
equal one gallon is equal to 4 quarts
four quarts is equal to 8 pints one
gallon is equal to 8 pints and these are
all equivalent across the board 16 cups
is equal to 1 gallon 128 ounces or 3
3840 MLS and of course that's
approximate with our with our mlc so you
could memorize this and this is in that
handout sheet that you can gave you just
look down in the bottom in the
information section it's got all those
this this exact one in there all of
those are equivalent so there's 8 pints
in a gallon there's 16 cups in a gallon
there's 4 quarts in a gallon that may be
a better way for some people I teach
this different ways some people like the
top part how we've got to appear to
memorize which one goes into which some
people just like to remember memorize
this entire chart right here
so you remember 128 ounces in a gallon
you remember 8 pints in a gallon and
then you can divide across these to
remember to calculate out whichever one
you want that's up to you next I want to
go over to the most important thing
you've got to be know now of course
everything is the most important that's
a little tidbit I just lied but uh
what you need really must know are you
gonna see a lot our pounds and kilograms
you've got to know it and you've got to
be able to not mix it up and you got to
be able do it on the fly cuz this is
something you just don't want to miss
points on and you don't want to mess up
in the real world either because you
make some really embarrassing mistakes
pounds and kilograms I've got a little
pic Manik character in here for anorexia
Rex which you can check out in the pic
Manik learning system but I just like
this low care tree so cute what's the
what's what is 1 pound 1 kilogram right
you've got to be able to go back and
forth well what you've got
remember is you've got to memorize it
one kilogram is equal to 2.2 pounds its
approximation again 2.2 pounds now when
you think about these pounds to
kilograms the only thing you're gonna
mix up which I used to do it all the
time is D divided you multiply which one
do you have what do you do right well
it's actually pretty easy I like to use
a logic check well what's my logic tank
well it's kind of crude but I remember
that pounds the pounds numbers are
always higher now how do I remember that
well pounds or what we use here in
America and which ones always bigger if
we were measuring weights Americans
right of course
exactly so remember that pounds are
bigger so the number that you're getting
should be larger if you're converting
from kilograms to pounds now the other
one that I like to use too is to make
sure you know your own weight calculate
it out and put it in your mind because
which one do you want to remember a
number if you're measuring your weight
well you want to know kilograms cuz it
makes you look thinner because it's
smaller in the metric system and that's
what's really important so if I had a
hundred kilograms
what's a hundred kilograms in pounds
well a hundred times 2.2 is 220 pounds
and that's another you know you can just
also think about that as well but
compare it to yourself and of course you
can say whether you're more or less than
220 pounds but you can keep that to
yourself
now if dr. Wyatt weighs 135 pounds
what's his weight in kilograms hmm well
of course it's very very very small and
light right because I don't eat Cheetos
all the time I don't know it's not true
now 135 pounds now you know you need to
go to a smaller number because it's
kilograms right so do you multiply or
divide well to do a smaller you're going
to divide so you take 135 divided by 2
point 2 which is kilograms and that's
going to give you dr. Wyatt's weight 61
point 3 6 kilograms I like that I think
I'll take it now you can calculate your
own weight out
and you know I don't care if you lie or
not but use an approximation so you
remember but make sure you know your own
weight in kilograms it's really
important because then you can always
remember next let's move on to
milliliters and ounces definitely
something you've gotta know
now we talked a little bit about
milliliters downs remember one ounce
equals about 30 MLS well I could never
remember that it's 29.57
because you know what it's not really
that important now maybe you've got an
evil instructor out there I know I've
had one too and they want you to know
29.57
well sorry for you however you
remembering 30 is so much easier and
it's pretty much straight on for the
math but how can you always remember
ml's two ounces what's a good way for
you to remember well I always like to
remember 16 ounces because it's a nice
popular beverage size right and 16
ounces is times 30ml about 480 ml now
why did I tell you that why is it
important well there's a really great
example out there that you can apply to
real life which I absolutely love and
you may have been wondering now if you
bought a water bottle everybody bought a
water bottle and destroy the environment
a little bit with the plastic right yeah
guilty now what about those water
bottles why are they 16.9 fluid ounces
why well what if you did the math what
if you did the math what is a sixteen
point nine ounce bottle in MLS what's
really important and it helps you
memorize there's that way for a reason
because how many ml is a sixteen point
nine well if you multiplied it by thirty
you're gonna get a weird 504 or 506
whatever it is in my head I can't
remember but if you multiply it by 29.57
you'll get a wonderful beautiful even
500ml mmm isn't that convenient you can
use that example to remember that those
crazy water bottles now I'm not talking
about the one you buy it the gas station
that's 20 ounces cuz you know that's
that's cheating I'm talking about the
ones you buy in the 24 pack that are
cheap 16.9 fluid ounces
and 500 MLS super easy to remember that
way you can apply something you know to
something you don't know
and you won't forget that's really the
important the best thing to remember
about when you're learning something
take something you don't know apply it
to something you do and then you can
remember now another important fun
little tidbit fact of 500 ml of water
how much does that weigh
what is it weigh well conveniently 500
MLS weighs approximately one pound and
that's a little another fun fact that
you can remember now moving on to inches
to centimeters what do you need to know
about inches of centimeters why are they
so important well you got to measure
wounds you got to measure all this stuff
and you need to know inches in
centimeters super important now when you
think about inches and centimeters
inches one inch equals about 2.54
centimeters don't forget that one one
inch 2.54 centimeters now I would like
to think that I'm super tall you know if
someone went said you're as tall as you
feel and I feel like I'm about 6-3 I'm
just saying now unfortunately dr. Wyatt
is 66.5 don't forget the point five is
very important very proud of that sixty
six point five inches tall what is my
height in centimeters hmm now if you
think about it there are lots of ways to
do this well not really
sixty six point five inches x what you
need two point five four centimeters
equals what well sixty six point five
times two point five four will give you
the answer in centimeters and that's
approximately or exactly 167 point six
four centimeters that's what you need to
know so that's right 167 point six four
centimeters I feel so much taller in
centimeters I know right
I love the metric system I feel taller
I feel skinnier I love it that's all I
got to say now when you think about this
what I want you to do is I want you to
know your own height because I you know
how many inches you are tall
right well everyone wants to be a little
taller so I want you to make sure you
you convert your own height to
centimeters so you know what it is and
it also gives you another great example
now why do I have this beautiful ruler
in here and it's not to make you
remember you know second grade when you
got hit by them that never happened I
was good in second grade I was a great
student no one ever hit me with a ruler
that's for our psyche video for therapy
but you can remember the ruler because
it's really good example to help you
again put a real-life example now if
you've never seen a ruler I don't know
what to tell you but a ruler typically
is two sides and one sides and inches
and the other sides and centimeters so
how long is a 12-inch ruler in
centimeters well you can do the math
right
12 times 2.54 is gonna give you
approximately thirty point four eight
and you can remember that really easy
because one side is twelve and the other
side is thirty but it doesn't go all the
way to the edge I always wondered that
in grade school now I know why hmm
whatever now let's move on to another
really important topic teaspoons in
tablespoons I hate these things let me
tell you what number one because I got
some at the big lots and they they're
not the right size they're not real
teaspoons in tablespoons I'm not
knocking Big Lots but I don't know what
happened to him that's all I gotta say
but they're not right now what's
important to know about teaspoons and
tablespoons you're gonna get a lot of
dosage questions about these because
they're tricky and I think they're a
little slightly evil because you just
have to memorize them well what do you
want to memorise them with there's a
couple of different things first off
you've got to remember that a teaspoon
is five in those now it's a beautiful
teaspoon that's nice little rounded edge
or you know whatever 5 MLS really
important but what's a tablespoon well a
teaspoon is equal a teaspoons of 5 ml
sorry and a tablespoon is equal to three
teaspoons right hmm ok but you could
also just remember that a tablespoon is
equal to about 15 MLS so one tablespoon
is 15 ml or 1 tablespoon is
two three teaspoons so you could say
that you could do the math there so five
in those times three equals fifteen that
gives you the answer so let's do a
practice question and this is where we
start applying more and more questions
to real-life scenarios that you're going
to encounter in the real world and on
your exams so you're to administer 15 ml
of medication to your patient but only
have a teaspoon how many teaspoons
should you give now a lot of people get
questions like this and they just obsess
over how do I set up the question how do
I do the little graphs and which one do
I put the number where to multiply blah
blah blah
it gets so confusing but what I want you
to do is say what do I have and what do
they want me to give well I need to
administer 15 ml Zin medication so it's
in MLS but all I got is a little old tea
spoon I hope you don't have the Big Lots
tea spoon I hope you have a fancy tea
spoon from the Walmart or somewhere
anyway a tea spoon
well how many you need to convert every
day everything to the same same unit so
how many teaspoons is one that's 5 ml so
if you have 15 ml as a medication to
give 5/3 sorry 15 divided by 5 is going
to give you 3 so you can take 15 ml
divided by each teaspoon which is 5 MLS
and that's going to give you 15 divided
by 5 or 3 teaspoons I hope I didn't mix
that up when I was crossing my words I'm
a bit dyslexic sometimes it gets a
little confusing for my own myself but
if you get confused ride it out and what
you need to remember is compare it back
to what you're doing and say well lower
work backwards if I use 3 tea spoons and
each of them are 5 MLS well then I
multiply that's gonna give me 15 ml of
medication which is how much I need to
give with these types of questions I
always go back and do a logic check to
really make sure that that's what I'm
supposed to do let's move on to some
more fun and exciting stuff the metric
system right depending on where you're
at in the world watching this video you
may find this part easier or a little
more difficult depending on how familiar
you are with it now I'm not going to go
into that super details of each one of
these but you
really kind of need to know what these
mean first off are the big ones kilo
you've got to remember that kilo itself
means thousand
now kilo gram means one thousand grams
so a thousand kilo is a thousand one
thousand and then you've got deca which
means ten so a deca deca is 10 1 zero
then essentially you've got zero and
then everything else is divided by its 1
a percentage right so we have deci now
deci is 1/10 or 0.1 and remember every
time we're doing pharmacology math
pharmacology math never forget that
leading zero I have so much fun right
marking questions wrong and answers
wrong when people don't put that leading
zero in there because in the real world
when you go and you put dot something
you don't know whether there's a dot
there let me tell you how many times
that dot doesn't show up and if this is
zero that way you know to look for a
zero because you don't write numbers
that start with zero normally unless
it's a percentage or a fraction so deci
is 1/10 Sinti remember a centimeter is
one hundredth that's one divided by
hundred 100 0.01 milli we're gonna talk
about in a second is 1000 so 1 divided
by a thousand or 0.001 and of course
micro is 1 million and that's zero point
zero zero zero zero one now another
important thing to remember it remember
that I put on here and I see this
confused a lot is that one milliliter
right one milliliter of volume one
milliliter of volume is equal to one
cubic centimeter or a CC so 1 ml equals
CC so if you need to give 50 cc's of
something that's 50 MLS you need to give
25 CCS of something that's 25 MLS don't
mix that up and that's just something
that I see thrown in there just love to
confuse people with that one because
it's no fun and evil I don't know
somebody needs something better to do it
right now as we
move on to conversions and we talked
about the metric system we need to do
four big categories that you're going to
see on almost all of your exams
kilograms grams milligrams and
micrograms kg g mg and MCG when you're
reading questions and you see examples
you've got to pay attention to what
those little letters say and for
somebody like me who barely pays
attention what I read
you've got to see mg and MC gee you're
gonna mix it up don't don't be that
person because those are easy points to
lose you're just gonna feel dumb and
it's really hard to kick yourself more
than five times in one day right let's
look at some examples so what's really
important when you are converting these
if you're going from kilograms something
large all the way over here to something
small you need to multiply the numbers
so you multiply to go smaller well
what's really important if we're going
from kilograms and I need grams well I
know I need to multiply by a thousand
and that's what we're gonna do in these
examples a day from grams to milligrams
again multiply by a thousand and so
forth but haven't gone the other way
right or there there sorry what if we're
going the other way well we need to
divide so if we're going from micro
grams to milligrams milligrams to grams
or grams to kilograms or all the way
across we need to divide those numbers
so we divide the number we need to get
to the number the larger number and
we're going to work through some
examples because this probably sounded
confusing if you take one kilogram right
one kilogram now we know one kilogram is
equal to how many grams well one
kilogram we're going this way
so one kilogram is going to be equal to
one thousand grams now one gram one gram
is equal to one thousand milligrams so
we see how we're going across here and
one milligram moving over is equal to
one thousand milligrams micrograms sorry
and you were gonna use this as we go
across and as we practice so you can
follow along and with our practice
questions that we're gonna do here in a
minute so one kilogram one kilogram
equals a thousand grams 1 million
milligrams
and then 1 billion micrograms right now
right so how do we get that or we take
one and we multiply again by a thousand
to get one thousand grams one thousand
times a thousand is 1 million and 1
million times a thousand is 1 billion
micrograms now if you're the kind of
person that moves the decimal point with
the little line that's great
you can do that too but I'm not gonna go
over that example right here right now
because it's a little bit confusing for
what we're gonna go over if you use that
method great you can still follow along
but use your little decimal point just
slide it on over and write on your paper
that's up to you let's move on now what
if I have five kilograms so five
kilograms equals how many grams 5,000
that's right
so five times 1,000 equals five thousand
grams now how many milligrams five
million you're getting you're catching
on and how many micrograms times a
thousand is five billion micrograms
right yeah I know right I did pretty
good so let's do some examples that you
actually have to do some math that thing
you can't do in your head now see if you
could do these yourself you need to
pause it fine because I kind of talk
fast I get excited but we're gonna go
over lots of different examples you see
if you can get them and then we're gonna
apply to real-world questions in a
moment so for grams if you have 4 grams
how many milligrams is that did you say
four thousand milligrams that's right so
four grams go it were going this way
we're going over here so times 1,000 is
4,000 milligrams
that's right now what about 0.25 grams
you're gonna get a lot of questions that
try to trick you like this 0.25 grams
0.25 grams is how many milligrams
well 0.25 times a thousand is 250
milligrams did you get that right good
you're so smart
now what about 1.25 grams one point two
five grams is equal to how many
milligrams 1250 right 1250 milligrams
again 1.25 times a thousand twelve
hundred fifty milligrams great now
they're gonna get harder yes I know
we're working up to it just calm down
just stop stop screaming at the screen
we're gonna get there
geez they get hard there's tricks 800
milligrams 800 milligrams is how many
grams hmm changed it didn't it 800
milligrams is how many grams well now
we're going 800 and we're going to a
larger gram what do we do well we need
to divide 800 divided by 1,000 equals
0.8 grams that's correct now when you're
writing this is 0.8 don't forget that
little zero point are you gonna get it
wrong I'd mark it wrong and I'd have so
much fun marking your answer wrong you
just don't even know it would be great
to be so happy just big red X let's move
on sorry I had a moment 500 grams 500
grams equals how many kilograms well
we're going there going that way right
500 grams is how many great kilograms
well 500 divided by a thousand 0.5
kilograms again don't forget your
leading zero what about two thousand one
hundred and fifty milligrams two
thousand one hundred and fifty
milligrams is how many kilograms hmm now
we're getting tricky what do you do here
well two thousand one hundred and fifty
milligrams well you're going to grams
and then two kilograms right so you
multi-device sorry two thousand one
hundred fifty divided by a thousand and
then you divide it by a thousand again
don't forget the steps sounds really
stupid but you don't want to miss those
easy points so two thousand one hundred
fifty milligrams divided by a thousand
then divided by a thousand again is zero
point zero zero two one five kilograms
and this is where those people who used
move the zero across six spaces could
make themselves maybe go a little faster
but it gets more confusing I recommend
doing the math 20 150 divided by a
thousand divided by a thousand again to
get zero point zero zero two one five
kilograms so let's go on to more
conversions now like
I said they're gonna get a little bit
tougher 1/4 of a pound two milligrams
hmm confusing right well that's the
point of these exams is it try to
confuse you nursing instructors are evil
trust me I know you're thinking about
yours right now just think about it
screen the name out loud and throw a
punch but don't hit the screen don't do
that just scream it let's all stress so
1/4 of a pound milligrams well first off
you got to get away from pounds pounds
are big pounds are just flabby and gross
you need to go to kilograms right so 1/4
of a pound
well first off 1/4 pound is not even
can't really do much with a fraction so
if you take 1/4 1/4 is going to give you
zero point 2 5 pounds don't make that
mistake do that one right away
so you got 0.25 pounds 0.25 pounds to
kilograms how do we get that again
remember pounds are larger numbers so
0.25 pounds divided by 2.2 is going to
give us a smaller petite number remember
the pounds just piling up on the
midsection or your thighs or wherever it
goes they're smaller in kilograms
we like that metric system it's so cute
so 0.25 divided by 2.2 is going to give
you 0 point 1 1 3 6 kilograms a smaller
number right but that's not where we're
gonna stop if I was an instructor I
would put this on your exam as the
possible answer and I get 25% of me
every time I have so much fun just
putting my red pin right through your
answer being mm-hmm got it wrong didn't
pay attention that's right because the
answer is not what you need you need
milligrams not kilograms don't make that
mistake pay attention so how do we get
there just a couple more steps it's easy
from here we know that we need to go to
grams first so zero point one one three
six times a thousand is going to give us
a hundred and thirteen point six grams
but don't stop there what you need to do
is multiply by a thousand again to get a
hundred and thirteen point six times a
thousand giving you a hundred and
thirteen thousand six hundred grams
that's right
milligrams sorry
hundred and thirteen thousand six
hundred milligrams and that is the
correct answer what you can see here is
this was lots of different steps and you
know what the math is pretty easy the
steps are pretty easy but what I can
tell you every single time on these dag
on tests is something's gonna trip you
up it's so stupid and you're going to
trip you're gonna just kick yourself
afterwards you're gonna forget to treat
the right conversion the right fraction
the wrong decimal point every single
time you just have to practice and then
make sure you don't miss the easy stuff
don't miss converting two pounds to
kilograms kilograms to pounds don't mess
that up and make sure once you're done
with the question stop and they don't
want you to say did I get the right
answer in milligrams because you don't
know how many times you're gonna have
milligrams or grams or kilograms and
those are gonna be your answer choices
and you're gonna stop and think you had
the right answer and it's gonna be wrong
and your instructors just laugh and haha
got you and you're gonna be sad cuz you
got a bad score hmm okay now now for
some other crap that no one uses anymore
but I see it on tests all the time and
it just makes me want to punch the
screen please don't punch the screen
there's three things really only one of
them important the first one is a dream
a dream a dream is stupid I don't see it
so I haven't seen it or heard of it on
the inc Lex or standardized exams for a
long time but I see you sometimes some
students used to write in to me and tell
me that they would see it on their exams
maybe their instructor truly is evil
also 150 years old a dream is
approximately eight dreams is one ounce
now what's a dream well it had something
to do with whiskey it was Scottish or
Irish I can't remember but a dream was
like a tiny little little baby baby shot
I like some whiskey or something back in
the day I don't know a long time ago but
eight of them is an ounce I don't really
think that one's important now the one
that I will see test it a lot and it's
so stupid I literally hate it is it
grain one grain so this is one you just
got to write down don't forget it one
grain equals sixty-four point seven nine
milligrams or 65 and that's pretty
all you really need to know now just for
fun because once in a billion years I
see this is a scruple a scruple is an
apothecary term and it's equal to about
20 grains not gonna see it on any
standardized exam but for those evil
nursing instructors out there especially
the nursing stories I see a pop up from
time to time and I get so many right
senses what's a scruple why isn't on my
exam why do I hate my life why did I do
this
well now you note one scruples 20 grains
20 grains is one grain is equal to sixty
four point seven nine milligrams you can
do the math so just know grain one grain
sixty-four point seven nine milligrams I
like to just remember 65 because you
know what 65 is the retirement age in my
opinion and you're out of here
just like grain should be gone soon I
can't wait now more practice questions
these are the real life practice
questions the ones that are hard when
I'm gonna make you want to just love
your life and get so excited I just oh
my goodness and I just like to point out
again we got lots of our crazy my crazy
images in here from the pic Monica
learning system you can check them out
yourself now when you're answering these
calculation type questions you've really
got to make sure you don't miss any the
easy stuff math is so easy you guys can
do this you know the multiplication
tables right but what happens is you get
so obsessed over setting up a question
doing lots of things you forget all the
easy stuff so what are some things you
really need to know in general this
applies for all pharmacology math you
really got to say what's the question
asking me what is the question asked me
to do don't forget that what's a total
dose that I'm supposed to give what have
I been given don't miss that and of
course make sure you convert everything
to whatever they're asking you to give
and then calculate to that form and then
calculate the dose and we're going to go
over some examples and I'm right along
here as we go over more real-life
questions which are more fun or more
difficult whatever you say I don't mind
but one things it's important and I
you're not gonna see these usually on
pharmacology math if you're in a
pharmacology math test but you may see
it if you have a combined test where
math is part of your nursing correct
or whatever curriculum you're in the
administration five rights of medication
administration these are so important
and I see this this also applies to
real-life medication errors of them are
very very very common and for dumb
reasons and you're looking to think of a
boards I just don't know why they did
that well they messed up their rights of
medication administration you giving it
to the right patient at the right time
is it time for that are you giving the
right drug is the drug appropriate and
is it the right route so routes of
administration we're gonna make a video
on that and is it the right dose the
right dose the right amount the right
time the right patient don't forget
those and of course the right to refuse
patients can always refuse they always
refuse the good medication don't forget
they don't refuse that pain medicine do
they know mmm never
you'll get there and then of course the
right documentation you've got a
document and of course the medication
rights you see some different variations
of this but they're pretty much the same
now let's get on with its practice
questions a provider is ordered as if
through Meissen 0.25 grams P o to be
administered daily the nurse has 125
milligram tablets on hand how many
tablets should them a nurse administer I
think I almost said Merce I'm not sure
now what do you need to do first now
this question may come super easy to you
if it does good great but don't miss the
steps cuz you're gonna miss things later
when maybe you're not paying as much
attention so what's the first thing you
need to do well what does the question
asking me well it's asking me how many
tablets should the nurse administer how
many tablets how many tablets of 125
milligrams should the administer well
you wanted miss her 125 milligrams but
the order I'm sorry you have hundred 25
milligram tablets but the order is 4
grams 0.25 grams so you've got to
convert so what you need to do of course
is say how many milligram tablets daily
in your question and then the total that
you need to actually give as if ur
Meissen 0.25 grams
pío pío means by mouth if you haven't
got there and every day
and you've been given the 125 milligram
tablets so let's calculate it 0.25 grams
means nothing because you have 125
milligram tablets so remember our little
conversion grams to milligrams what are
you gonna do multiplied by a thousand
yep we know you're screaming at the
screen and that equals 250 milligrams so
you need to give 250 milligrams every
day
that's your dose well if you have 125
milligram tablets what do you do now
well you've got 250 milligrams to give
and you take 250 milligrams you divide
it by the amount you have on hand at 125
and it's going to give you 2 or 2
tablets so the answer to 125 milligram
tablets pio daily for azithromycin
that's your answer you could play it
again and really think through it to
make sure you got it if this confuses
you you probably missed one of the steps
just take a step back and follow along
now next this one's great and order
states you must administer metoprolol
succinate 400,000 micrograms
twice daily how much do you administer
each dose you have and it gives you one
of those lovely little drug labels I
love drug labels these are the best
questions honestly I hate these that
gave me anxiety when I was in school and
I wanted to die however you've got one
Merry Christmas now what do you do well
what's the answer
take a second to see if you can figure
this out did you get the right answer
well this is a trick question because
I'm an evil nursing instructor and if I
was your instructor I would be laughing
all day just mark and X is all over the
place having so much fun with you why
because you missed up one of the most
common rights of medication
administration because you know what
this little nugget says ah the rights of
medication administration now maybe you
don't know that metoprolol succinate is
different than metoprolol tartrate hmm
well I'm sorry I'm an evil nursing
instructor remember that's right and
that's what's going to happen
I doubt you're gonna really be given
this but I put this in here to make an
evil point and that is you've got to
read the question because so many times
in the questions you're going to be
given something that's just so off it's
gonna be just one word off and it throws
the entire question off every single
time mm-hmm well good for me I put one
for dr. Wyatt over here and zero for you
unless you saw it and then well we're
gonna give you a half point for a good
merit so what's the point
well metoprolol succinate you can see
here on the label metoprolol tartrate
and what I can tell you on a
standardized exam it's going to say
exactly it's not gonna have any other
weird crap on there and that's what's
really important now can you answer this
question no you can't because if you
pick two tablets you did the right math
great for you but you're wrong because
you can't give the wrong medication and
actually metoprolol succinate is a
long-acting medication and tartrates a
fast-acting medication of the exact same
medication they're just different
formulations so you would again you
would have doubled the dose of the
patient hmm bad for you the answer is
just not enough information or it's
incorrect that's what's important now
let's look at another one maybe is a
little more appropriate in order States
you must administer metoprolol tartrate
two hundred thousand micrograms twice
daily
how much do you administer each dose you
have on hand another drug label what's
the answer take a moment to see if you
can figure it out of course this
medication is the correct one because I
tricked you last time why would I do it
again right mm-hmm
did you get the answer well let's work
through it together so two hundred
thousand micrograms twice daily that's
what you need to give so what you need
to do of course micrograms is not gonna
do you any good what you know is well
what's in the question and what's the
answer need to have well the answer
needs to have milligrams and your
question has micrograms so the first
thing you should do is convert
everything to what you have on hand or
what the answer is now you have two
hundred thousand micrograms two hundred
thousand so two hundred thousand
micrograms well what are you going to do
to move that to me
grams you're gonna divide cuz it's going
over right and if you divide 200,000
divided by a thousand it's gonna give
you 200 milligrams so then you know how
much do you need to give twice daily 200
milligrams twice daily makes the
question a lot more simple to be able to
answer in your head right so if you need
to give 200 milligrams twice daily well
what do you need to do well you need to
take 200 milligrams and divide it by 2
to give you a 100 milligrams okay
makes more sense now you need to give
100 milligrams twice 100 milligrams each
dose twice daily so then you're going to
be able to see that you need to give one
tablet each dose and what's gonna happen
you're gonna get a lot of these these
are actually really simple questions but
if you don't follow the same process
every time they're gonna trip you up
you've got to take a step back number
one read the question number two make
sure you're given the right amount of
what it's asking you to give and what
the answer says because metoprolol heart
rate as you can see you may get tripped
up by one of those easy little tricks
and I have so much fun doing those every
single time but don't miss the easy
stuff and these are actually really easy
questions you're gonna look at these
five years from now and you're just
gonna laugh at how easy they are yeah I
know it seems hard now the answer is one
one tablet and if you got that good for
you now let's move on to another lovely
question I know you're so excited a
physician is ordered amoxicillin 1.5
grams over three timed and divided doses
daily which of the following should you
administer hmmm take a moment and see if
you can get the answer did you get the
correct answer well what are you
supposed to do here what is the question
asking me well it says I need to
administer amoxicillin 1.5 grams over
three times and divided doses daily so
it's a couple of different ways to go
about tackling
one right away but you can look at the
answers well you can read all the
answers ahead of time probably just
gonna confuse you but what's important
to know about the answers is all of them
are in milligrams or not enough
information
I always just when I guess just picked
not enough information to move on next
question I don't know no don't do that
that's a bad answer
so amoxicillin 1.5 grams over three
times and divided two doses daily so how
long is daily 24 hours that's right good
for you
you passed first grade second grade I
don't know where it is what's important
to do first well first off we do we know
we're given grams and we need milligrams
so we've got to convert grams to
milligrams make sure you don't miss the
easy stuff remember so first we've got 1
grams in the question and milligrams and
the answers so 1.5 grams times a
thousand is going to give us what 1,500
milligrams that's the first step what do
we need to do next well one of the next
steps is really to say well we need to
give 1500 milligrams in 24 hours right
that's the total in 24 hours but that's
not what the question is asking us some
questions do this one's saying 20 over
24 hours we want to give 1500 milligrams
in three timed and divided doses so what
does that mean well how many times just
how many hours are in a day 24 how many
would three doses be well that means
it's going to be three every eight hours
right
three goes into 24 eight times so eight
every eight hours so of course if we
take the exact same thing and we have
our 1,500 milligrams and we divide that
by our three doses that's gonna give us
500 milligrams each dose so 500
milligrams and how many 24 hours here we
go
24 divided by 3 is going to give us
every eight hours so every daily three
times and divided doses 24 hours divided
by three is eight hours so there the
frequency is every eight hours and our
dose every eight hours is 500 milligrams
but we're still not done and that is why
these questions are so confusing
so what happens is if you really can't
think through it and conceptualize
what's going on you get confused because
the answers here are very confusing
they're made to trip you up because I'm
an evil nursing instructor remember I
really am ooh this this is the face of
evil anyway sorry I can open what are
the choices well we know if you are
really good and you know that first off
you figured out
eight hours let's say you just got that
well there are four choices here with
eight hours but maybe you made a little
shortcut and you know you just need to
give 500 milligrams the answer you
thought you needed to give was 500
because you stopped there 500 you want
to pick number four and you would have
been wrong because 500 milligram tablets
every six hours make sure you read all
of the answers
so if we need to give 500 milligrams
every eight hours there are no 500
milligram choices in our answers right
because it's even more complex and
that's what you're going to see here 500
milligrams every eight hours well six
hours is out so number four just scratch
it off the list what do you have left
well you need something that equals 500
milligrams every eight hours so you have
to reverse engineer the answers so one
300 milligram tablet nope wrong one 250
milligram tablet wrong - 250 milligrams
tablets every eight hours sounds like
it's not um
oh wait what's happened now more
evilness right yeah exactly
one 250 milligram tablet any hours is
wrong but to 250 milligram tablets every
eight hours that's correct
that equals 500 milligrams every eight
hours but number five is five 100
milligram tablets Avery every eight
hours oh my goodness must have made a
mistake right no no this is an evil
question there's lots of evilness in
here it's the amount of evilness in this
question you have no idea so what's the
correct answer
well if yeah I was gonna give you some
pills how many pills would you really
want to swallow one - 25 or 100 it's not
100
it's not 25 you want to take the least
amount of pills possible unless your
pocketbook can't afford it but on the
NCLEX and every other standardized exam
you can afford it so the answer is the
least number of pills possible even if
it's the same dosage and that's the
answer so what's the answer here it's
not 5 100 milligram tablets ABR every 8
hours it's to 250 milligrams Ablett's
every 8 hours for a dose of 500
milligrams each
eight-hour dose for a total dose of you
guessed it 1500 milligrams or 1.5 grams
Wow that was really confusing that's
right it was meant to be these are the
kind of questions that if I wrote tests
I would put these in every single
question because they're so fun and I
just like to sit back with my big red X
and just mark it all off as people get
them wrong but it's so easy to take a
couple of steps back and just apply some
basic principles number one make sure
you're always putting it in the same
form grams to milligrams you need to
convert if you forgot to convert here
you've probably got it wrong and of
course making sure the last little step
that I didn't put a new the other
questions are you need to have it in the
smallest amount possible you're very
likely to see two of the exact same
dosages that are correct but maybe one
has five pills and the other one has 1.3
I don't know but our four pills versus
one you always want to have the least
number of pills possible and that's
where just some more evilness likes to
take in effect so the answer is number
three to 250 milligrams Ablett's every
eight hours here's one more question a
physician's ordered zero point two seven
milligrams levothyroxine now which of
the following should you administer and
here's another drug label synthroid
levothyroxine sodium tablets 137
micrograms hmm shucks so what's the
answer
well this one's actually not that
difficult is the last one there aren't
nearly as many tricks in this one and
that's on purpose to make you feel a
little bit better so you don't cry when
you go to bed tonight
zero point two seven four milligrams is
what you need to give and you have Micra
so what do you need to do well if you
have the questions in milligrams and you
need to give micrograms because that's
the tablets you have on hand what do you
need to do you need to convert zero
point two seven milligrams times 1000
remember equals 274 micrograms that's
really important
don't miss the easy stuff if we have two
hundred and seventy four micrograms we
need to give now remember this equals
the dose we need to give now then what
we need to do is take what we have on
hand my head itches take what we have on
hand which are a hundred and thirty
seven microgram tablets and divide that
in the dose we need to give 274
micrograms divided by a hundred and
thirty-seven equals two did you get the
answer to I hope you did because there's
no evilness here I didn't do that to you
but I bet you read this question
carefully didn't you it did
you're welcome the answer is number
three two tablets so you're gonna give
two tablets in the medication don't miss
the easy step even though the questions
seem easy I guarantee you there's tricks
in there because I'm not the only evil
nursing instructor out there well wasn't
that fun that's it that's all we've got
today I really appreciate you tuning in
check out to lots of our other videos if
there's something you're interested in
you want to see you need to learn I
don't know
send me a message you can go down there
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