Lessons · Nursing · a daily dose split across the day
A daily dose split across the day
A total per day is shared among the doses; the schedule's interval tells you how many there are: every 8 hours is 24 / 8 = 3 doses.
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.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a licensed nurse. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
An order reads 1500 mg a day in three divided doses, and the MAR shows three times: 0600, 1400, 2200. The amount in each box is the day's total divided by three. The other way round, an every-six-hours order adds up to a daily total that the next shift needs to know.
How to think about it
Find the number of doses first: 24 hours divided by the interval, or the number the order states. Then divide the daily total by that number for the per-dose amount, or multiply a per-dose amount by it for the daily total.
Worked example
Ordered 1500 mg/day, given every 8 hoursA daily total, and an interval.
Doses per day = 24 / 8 = 3Twenty-four hours, eight apart. Three doses.
Per dose = 1500 / 3 = 500 mgThe total shared three ways.
Ordered 200 mg every 12 hours: 24 / 12 = 2 doses; 200 × 2 = 400 mg/dayThe other direction: a per-dose order, and the day's total.
Your turn
1200 mg/day given every 6 hours. Write the per-dose line.
1200 / = 300 mg
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Reading 'every 8 hours' as eight doses. Twenty-four hours divided by the interval is the number of doses, and it is three. Eight doses of a three-dose day is nearly three times the total.