Calculating Dosage for Patient

¶ … medications before administering to patients. What are the six medication rights? The six rights are Medication, Route, Time, Client, Dosage and Documentation. Medication of course, is about verifying that the right medication is being given, Route is about how the medication is being given, whether be orally, via a gastric tube for something else. Timing speaks about how often the medication is given and how much time must pass between each dosage. The client is the person who is receiving the medication and why they are receiving it.

Dosage is how much is being given and documentation is a recording of what was given and when so that anyone (the same professional or someone else) knows exactly what was given and when. Discuss interventions that can reduce the risk of making medication errors. Interventions that would do the job would include taking one's time, double-checking the measurements, looking at the prior documentation to see what was given and when and making sure that any new documentation is complete, accurate and easy to read and decipher.

3) How can needle stick injuries be prevented? Needle stick injuries can be prevented by never removing the cap before one is ready to actually administer the medication, using gloves that are resistant to needle pokes and generally moving in a slow and deliberate manner. Making sure the injection site is exposed and that the patient is still before attempting an injection is also a wise move.

4) What sort of patient education should be provided when administering medications? Good things to cover would include what the injection is for, side effects that could or will likely occur, when an illness should start to subside if that is what the medication is for, how often to take, how much to take and what to do or not do when taking the medication (e.g. eat food, drink alcohol, etc.). Interactions with any other existing medications, if any, should be discussed.

5) How do you choose the appropriate needed for subcutaneous or intramuscular injections? What is the needle's gauge and length for a subcutaneous injection? For intramuscular injection? Generally, you would choose the right needle based on the size of the patient and what type of injection you are doing. For intramuscular, the needed would need to be 22-25 gauge and the length of the needed would be one to one and a half inches. Generally, the needle insertion point would be the top of the arm above the armpit level.

For subcutaneous injections, one would want to use 23-25.