Tag: Medication Administration
- Medication Bolus ()
Scenario: The on-line physician orders you to administer 80 mg of Lasix IV. On hand you have 100 mg in 10 cc’s. How many cc’s would you administer to give the ordered dose? This is a pretty easy problem if you a little algebra to solve the problem. Of course you could use a formula […]
- Weight Dependent Drip Calculations ()
So what if the Doctor orders you to administer an amount of fluid per hour based on weight? This is not uncommon in pediatrics where aggressive fluid therapy can easily save a child’s’ life; the difference between hydration and fluid overload may be something in the neighborhood of 100cc. Consider the following order: ORDERED: Administer […]
- Converting Fractions To Decimals And Percentages ()
Percentages Percent = amount present in 100 units of a solution.Solution = Solute + SolventSolvent = liquid dissolving a soluteSolute = Material being dissolved in the solution A drug is said to have a concentration of 100% when there is one gram in 1 cc (ml) of a solution (saline, D5, etc.). What is a […]
- Basic Principles of Fractions ()
Medication administration would be a lot easier if the medication was just packaged in the exact amount that is needed. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Sometimes, medics need to only give half of the packaged amount. Sometimes, medics need to administer more than one package of a medication to a patient that is extremely […]
- An Introduction To Numeracy ()
Introduction It’s just a little math, don’t freak out! If there is anything that strikes fear in the heart of many paramedics, it would be calculating drug dosages and drip rates. In reality, calculating a drug dose or drip rate uses mathematical principles that you should have learned by the time you were in the […]
- More Drug Dose Calculations ()
Let’s look at a medication we give every day, D50. D50 is Dextrose 50% in water (sterile for injection, of course). To make D50, you take 25 grams of dextrose and add it to 50cc’s of water. Experiment: Make D25 out of D50 Equipment Needed 1- 50-60 cc syringe 1- pre-filled syringe of D50 1- […]
- Techniques of Medication Administration ()
Enteral (digestive track) Routes of Medication Administration Oral administration of medication is a convenient, cost-effective, and most commonly used medication administration route. The primary site of drug absorption is usually the small intestine, and the bioavailability of the medication is influenced by the amount of drug absorbed across the intestinal epithelium. The first-pass effect is […]
- Medication Philosophy of Use For EMT’s ()
Assisting vs Administration Medications To A Patient Adherence to therapies is a primary determinant of treatment success. Failure to adherence is a serious problem which not only affects the patient but also the health care system. Medication non adherence in patients leads to substantial worsening of disease, death and increased health care costs. A variety […]
- Auto Injection Made Easy….And Fun ()
An autoinjector (or auto-injector) is a medical device designed to deliver a dose of a particular drug. The injectors were initially designed to overcome the hesitation associated with self-administration of the needle-based drug delivery device. Most autoinjectors are one-use, disposable, spring-loaded syringes. By design, autoinjectors are easy to use and are intended for self-administration by […]