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Apothecary Conversion

Apothecary Conversion. Pro Calc Nursing 131. Apothecary/Metric Conversion. There are three systems of measurement being used in medication administration. Metric Apothecary Household This tutorial discusses converting units from the apothecary system of measurement to the metric system.

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Apothecary Conversion

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  1. Apothecary Conversion Pro Calc Nursing 131

  2. Apothecary/Metric Conversion • There are three systems of measurement being used in medication administration. • Metric • Apothecary • Household This tutorial discusses converting units from the apothecary system of measurement to the metric system.

  3. Apothecary/Metric Conversion In the metric system liquid volumes are measured in milliliters or liters. Weight is measured in micrograms, milligrams, grams, or kilograms. 1 liter 1000 milliliter 1 kilogram 1,000 grams 1,000,000 milligrams 1,000,000,000 micrograms

  4. Apothecary/Metric Conversion In the apothecary system liquid volumes are measured in quarts, pints, ounces, drams, and minims. Weight is measured in grains. 1 quart 2 pints 32 ounces 256 drams 15,360 minims 1 ounce = 437.5 grains

  5. Apothecary/Metric Conversion • Our Example Problem: • Acetaminophen is available in mg. • 10 gr of Acetaminophen must be prepared. How many mg of Acetaminophen should be prepared?

  6. Apothecary/Metric Conversion Here are the 5 basic steps to change from one unit to another Step 1 - Identify that you need to convert Step 2 – Write down what you have Step 3 – Write down your equivalent fraction Step 4 – Reduce units Step 5 – Perform the math

  7. Apothecary/Metric Conversion • Our Example Problem: • Acetaminophen is available in mg. 10 gr of Acetaminophen must be prepared. How many mg of Acetaminophen should be prepared? Step 1Identify you need to convert The question asks how of one type of unit should we prepare in another type of unit. Step 2Write down what you have The quantity we have – our known quantity - is 10 gr of Acetaminophen. Write this as a fraction with 1 on the bottom. 10 gr 1 (Writing the amount as a fraction will help us when we multiply later.)

  8. Apothecary/Metric Conversion • Our Example Problem: • Acetaminophen is available in mg. 10 gr of Acetaminophen must be prepared. How many mg of Acetaminophen should be prepared? Step 3Relate the units An equivalency chart will list how the units relate.

  9. Apothecary/Metric Conversion Conversions between Apothecary and Metric Units 32 fluid ounces 1 liter 16 fluid ounces 500 milliliters 8 fluid ounces 240 milliliters 1 fluid ounce 30-32 milliliters 1 fluid dram 5 milliliters 15-16 minims 1 milliliter 1 grain 60 mg

  10. Apothecary/Metric Conversion Step 3Relate the units An equivalency chart will list how the units relate. Our chart lists 1 grain = 60 mg. We will write this equivalency as a fraction. We can write this fraction 2 ways: 1 grain 60 mg 60 mg 1 grain or Because the fraction we wrote in step 2 has grains on the top, our next fraction must have grains on the bottom.

  11. Apothecary/Metric Conversion Step 3Relate the units We now have: 10 grain 1 60 mg 1 grain x To convert we will need to multiply our fractions.

  12. Apothecary/Metric Conversion Step 4Reduce the units Cross off any matching pairs of unit labels. The label left should be what you want to find. We now have: We now have: 10 grain 1 60 mg 1 grain x In this example the only unit left is mg which is what we want to find.

  13. Apothecary/Metric Conversion Step 5Perform the math 10 grain 1 60 mg 1 grain x 10 x 60 mg 600 mg = (reduce any fractions) 1 x 1 1 (include the units) = 600 mg 10 grains is equivalent to 600 mg.

  14. Apothecary/Metric Conversion • Our Example Problem: • Acetaminophen is available in mg. • 10 gr of Acetaminophen must be prepared. How many mg of Acetaminophen should be prepared? • We should prepare 600 mg of Acetaminophen.

  15. Apothecary/Metric Conversion These are the steps we used. • Determine the need to perform a metric conversion (having one type of unit –apothecary- and want to know another type -metric) • Write down the starting term • Find an equivalent fraction for the units. Write the equivalent fraction down next to the starting term with the units you want to eliminate on the bottom • Reduce the units (Eliminate only the words that match in the top and bottom of your fractions.) When you are finished you should have only the terms you are looking for left. • Perform the math operations and reduce your answer. (In some calculations you may need to round as specified by your instructions.)

  16. Thanks for viewing the Yavapai College Verde Learning Center Apothecary/Metric ConversionTutorial

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