Discussion Question 3: Common Errors in Oral and Parenteral Dosage Administration

1. Below are dosages taken from drug orders for patients in the hospital. (Note that these are not complete orders, as they are missing lots of other information such as the name of the drug, frequency of administration, etc. Rather, these are just the dosage parts of the drug order, but there may be enough information here already to alert us that something about the orders containing these dosages is unusual or incorrect.) Before giving the ordered medication to the patient, which of the following dosages should you question and why?

   Use THE LECTURE ONLY when answering these questions. Do NOT use other sources on the internet or AI. If you use other sources outside the lecture, it could lead to receiving a ZERO on this assignment.

   (Note: there is no clear right/wrong answer on all of these questions--some of them are up for debate, depending on the particular information you have about the patient--so feel free to discuss this nuance! For example, if you are not sure whether one of these should be questioned--maybe you see reasons both for and against questioning it--explain why!)

1. 5 tab

2. 0.5 L IV

3. 0.5 tab

4. 2.8 mL subQ

5. 2.5 cap

6. 5.4 mL IM

7. 200 mL p.o.

2. You need to give a patient 0.66667 cc of a medication subQ. Which syringe would be the best one to use and why? Given your choice of syringe, to what place value should you round your answer and why?

3. You need to give a patient 2.333333 mL of a medication IM.  Which syringe would be the best one to use and why? Given your choice of syringe, to what place value should you round your answer and why?