Medication Calculation Glossary for Student Nurses
Calculation questions often become easier once every term is translated into the quantity and unit it represents. This glossary describes arithmetic language only.
Use fictional or tutor-provided values only. These pages explain arithmetic and do not select, recommend, verify or administer treatment. Do not enter patient information or use DosePractice in a clinical workflow.
Dose required
The fictional amount an exercise asks you to work with. It must use the same measurement unit as the stock amount before a ratio is calculated.
Stock amount
The fictional amount contained in the stated stock presentation. It is paired with a stock volume or expressed as a concentration.
Stock volume
The volume that contains the stated stock amount. In a dose-to-volume formula it is multiplied by the required-to-stock ratio.
Concentration
An amount per unit volume, such as mg/mL. Dividing a fictional required amount in mg by a fictional concentration in mg/mL leaves mL.
Infusion rate
A volume per unit time. DosePractice’s educational rate page uses mL/hour.
Infusion time
The duration associated with a volume and rate. Decimal hours may need converting into hours and minutes for an exercise.
Drop factor
The fictional number of drops represented by one mL in a stated exercise. DosePractice never selects or verifies real equipment.
gtt/min
An abbreviation for drops per minute, the unit produced after volume and drop factor are divided by time in minutes.
Rounding rule
An instruction in a learning question that states how the final arithmetic answer should be presented. Do not assume a rounding rule that has not been given.
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Content status and sources
This page is an original DosePractice public-beta learning resource. It remains subject to continuing educational, regulatory and editorial review; corrections are published when issues are identified.
- Nursing and Midwifery Council programme standards require health numeracy assessment related to medicine calculation, but DosePractice is not an NMC assessment or approved programme.
- Formula presentation should be independently reviewed against current tutor-approved or institutional teaching material before search indexing is enabled.
Review references
- NMC standards for pre-registration nursing programmes
- University of Southampton drug-calculation learning guide
- York St John University nursing formula sheet
Read the DosePractice content-review approach or report a problem.