Is Dosage Calc Hard?

Dosage calculation is a pain for many nursing students. I would go as far as to say some students think you need a four-year mathematics degree to become a nurse.

Is that just an over-exaggeration? Or is there some truth to how much nursing students complain about this topic?

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Is Dosage Calculations Hard?

Students who have poor math skills will struggle with dosage calculations. With that said, most dosage calc problems use repetitive formulas and steps. Because of that, it can be learned and mastered by doing continuous practice problems and learning some helpful principles.

What Dosage Calc is Really About

Before I even move any further, I want to make sure we’re all on the same page about dosage calc. The reason for this is that I think it sets up everything else I’m going to say.

So first, the basics. What is dosage calc? Dosage calc is essentially calculations you do to ensure a patient gets the correct dosage/concentration/amount of an ordered medication.

As far as I know, every nursing student has to have this, but every school handles it differently.

From what I understand, some have a separate class for it, and others sprinkle it throughout the program. Regardless, it’s going to be a big part of you giving medications as a nurse.

I wrote a more detailed article on this in the post “What is Dosage Calc?” If you want more info, check out that linked article.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on.

Why is Dosage Calculations Hard?

Dosage calc is hard because it’s math. Plain and simple, you’re doing math problems.

If you’re someone who’s not good with math, you’re going to struggle. Unfortunately, a lot of people struggle with math, hence why so many struggles with this.

I actually don’t think this class is any harder than the other classes you will deal with in nursing school.

Honestly, depending on your background, you might find this class/topic to be one of the easiest classes in nursing school.

Tips for Being Successful in Dosage Calc

One of the mistakes students make when it comes to dosage calc is not approaching it like they would a math class. Hence the tips you’ll see below are geared towards that.

1. Don’t Miss Class

Going to class is an obvious tip, but it’s often not followed.

Unlike some other topics where looking at slides might be sufficient to learn the material, math problems don’t work like that.

There’s a lot of rationalization and steps that come with it that often won’t come to you unless you see someone work out the problem.

2. Practice Practice Practice

Dosage calc will require a lot of practice to understand it and be able to do it. Just looking at a textbook isn’t going to be sufficient enough.

You’ll need to do practice problems and a lot of it to be truly proficient at it.

3. Review Any Errors

It’s not enough to see you got a question wrong and then move on to the next one. Instead, try to understand why you got that question wrong.

For the complete list, make sure to check out this article: How to Pass Dosage Calc.

Dosage Calc is Doable

Dosage calc, while a class many students will find challenging, is doable. Many nurses pass this class despite how much they might hate math.

To help you do well in dosage calc, make sure to check out the nursing student academy.

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