Nursing dosage calculator
Drip rate, pump rate, dose by weight and amount to give — each one showing the formula with your numbers already substituted into it. Calculation items are the ones you can get fully right or fully wrong on arithmetic alone, and a bare answer never tells you which step you slipped on.
31 gtt/min
(volume in mL × drop factor in gtt/mL) ÷ time in minutes
(1000 × 15) ÷ 480 = 31.25
Rounded from 31.25 — a drip chamber cannot deliver part of a drop.
What this is for
This is a study aid for exam practice. It does not know your patient, your local protocol, or what has already been given. Nothing here replaces a drug chart, a formulary, or a second checker.
Worked examples
- 1,000 mL over 8 hours through a 15 gtt/mL set — what rate?31 gtt/min(1000 × 15) ÷ 480 = 31.25, rounded down to a whole drop
- Paracetamol 15 mg/kg for a 20 kg child — how much per dose?300 mg15 × 20 = 300
- 250 mg ordered, stock is 125 mg in 5 mL — how much do you draw?10 mL(250 ÷ 125) × 5 = 10
Where these come up in the exam
Dosage arithmetic sits in Pharmacology, part of Nursing Fundamentals, which is worth 20% of the Saudi Nursing Licensure Examination. Every calculation item in our bank is recomputed from the numbers in its own stem during the audit, because a doubled infusion rate is exactly the error that survives a careless review.
Practise the pharmacology questions or read how the arithmetic is checked.