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Non-Standard to Metric |
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Example
Orders read give "gr X" (grains 10) Tylenol® q 4-6° prn. How many milligrams of acetaminophen do you give?
Answer: You don't give any. Many facilities consider the use of grains archaic and a source of medical errors. Depending on the source, 5 grains can equal 300-325 mg. Now consider many medications are measured and given in hundredths of milligrams: the difference of 25 mg could have disastrous consequences. The best solution is to have the doctor rewrite the order in milligrams.
For educational purposes this calculator considers 1 grain = 64.8 milligrams however the National Weights & Measures Laboratory considers 1 grain = 64.79891 milligrams. My nursing text book vacillates between 1 grain = 60-64 milligrams. If you were to solve this problem using this calculator the answer would be 648 milligrams (roughly 2 plain acetaminophen tablets).
Note
All measurements were referenced from a nursing text book except cups and grains.
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J.U.S.T - Faculty of Nursing
