How to Calculate Dose Rates

Calculating dose rates is an important part of nursing and health care. It also comes into play with over-the-counter medications. Knowing the correct amount to take or to give your loved ones will keep them safe and allow the medicine taken to do its job.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

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Instructions

• 1

  Convert both measurements to the same system. For example, if your prescription reads that you are required to take 1 gram of medication, but the medication is in 250 milligram tablets, convert one gram to milligrams. This is a necessary step to simplify the mathematics of the dose calculation.

• 2

  Use the formula "Dose to be administered divided by (or over) stock strength equals number of tablets." Find the first part of the equation in your doctor's orders, and the second part of the equation listed on the medication packaging. Stock strength refers to the amount of medicine in each tablet or other dosage.

• 3

  Fill in the blanks of your equation with the numbers. If your doctor prescribed 1 gram of a medication, and the medication comes in tablet form of 500 milligrams per tablet, use system conversion to change the 1 gram into 1,000 milligrams. Divide 1,000 by 500 for the correct number of tablets to take. The solution is 2 tablets.