Lessons · Nursing · tablets from an order
Tablets from an order
Tablets = ordered dose ÷ dose per tablet, with both in the same unit. A half tablet is allowed only when the tablet is scored and the problem says so.
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
An order in milligrams and a bottle in micrograms is the ordinary Tuesday of a medication drawer. The number of tablets is a small whole number or a half; anything else means the units did not match.
How to think about it
Convert the order and the label to one unit first, usually the one the label is in. Then divide. Look at the result: one, two, a half, one and a half. If it is 0.002 or 2000, the units did not cancel.
Worked example
Ordered 0.25 mg. Have 125 mcg tablets.Two units. Nothing is divided until they match.
0.25 mg = 0.25 × 1000 = 250 mcgDown a rung of the ladder, to the unit the tablet is in.
Tablets = 250 / 125 = 2 tabletsNow the units cancel and the answer is a count of tablets.
Ordered 75 mg. Have scored 50 mg tablets: 75 / 50 = 1.5 tabletsA half, allowed because the tablet is scored.
Your turn
Ordered 40 mg; the tablets are 20 mg each. Write the line.
Tablets = 40 / = 2 tablets
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Dividing milligrams by micrograms. 0.25 / 125 = 0.002 tablets, which is nonsense, and 0.25 × 1000 / 125 = 2 is the answer. The units on top and bottom must be the same before you divide.