Lessons · Nursing · reading a MAR line
Reading a line on the medication record
A line on the record gives the drug, the dose, the route, the frequency and the times; the frequency tells you how many doses are in a day, and the box beside each time is signed as that dose is given.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Everything you need for a pass is on that line, and so is everything an auditor reads afterwards. A line read as every four hours when it says every six is two extra doses a day, and the record is where that shows.
How to think about it
Read the line left to right and say it out loud: drug, dose, route, frequency, times. Turn the frequency into a count: 24 divided by the interval. Multiply the dose by the count for the day's total. Check the allergy box at the top of the record before anything is given, every time.
Worked example
Line: 500 mg, by mouth, every 8 hours, at 0600, 1400 and 2200Drug, dose, route, frequency, times.
Doses per day = 24 / 8 = 3The frequency turned into a count.
Daily total = 500 × 3 = 1500 mgThe dose times the count.
One signature box beside each time, signed as that dose is givenOne box, one dose, one signature.
Your turn
A line reads every 4 hours. Write the number of doses in a day.
24 / 4 = doses
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Reading the printed times as the frequency. Three times on a line do not mean three doses if the frequency says every six hours and the fourth time is on the next page; the frequency is the number that decides.