Trinitas school of nursing

Newsletter sponsored by the Student Nurses Association of Trinitas School of Nursing
Classes began on January 22nd and students are Communication with students: Communication
already busy preparing for their courses. Some between students and faculty, as well as from the important reminders to make the beginning of the School of Nursing is crucial to a smooth semester. Make sure that your UCC owl’s nest account is active and that your mailbox is not full. E-mails coming in Printing of course material: In addition to printing at from personal accounts like yahoo, comcast, verizon,
home, students are always welcome to use the
etc will not be answered due to the risk for viruses computer lab to print their course material and handouts, but you must follow some basic rules:
ANGEL: All communication relating to your course will come through ANGEL. You should be checking Pay attention to others in the room that are also this daily to ensure that you do not miss any important printing. If you press “print” it will go into the “queue” information. You contact both your full time faculty which means the printer will print in order of requests. and adjunct professors about course and/or clinical There may be other people printing and you will have to wait for papers to come out in order of request. To ANGEL “Community Shell” Trinitas Students,
avoid frustration and wasting paper – do not hit print Faculty and Administration: This shell is used to
more than once! Any printed pages that are not provide students with information that is not course needed should be put in the paper recycle bin can related and should be checked regularly for email near the elevators. Do not use the ALC or Library to
notices. Additionally, there is important information posted under the “content” tab. It is also the main NOTE: Printing your handouts 5 minutes before class Student Nurses Association:
Learning lab sign up: Most courses need access to
the lab in the beginning of the semester, so it is very SNA Meeting
important to follow the rules for signing up and make The first meeting for the semester will be on • Skill lab sign up sheets are posted just inside the Wednesday January 29th beginning at 3pm and will
be held in room 330. All class representatives are • If you cannot keep your scheduled appointment, requested to attend this meeting. SNA is always
please call the skill lab at 659-5156 so they can looking for class representatives but is especially
interested in bringing in new class reps from NURE • Follow any schedule for skill completion provided 132, 131 and 130, as well as the LPN-RN track. If you are interested just come to the first SNA meeting • Remember you must review the material and or feel free to contact one of the SNA officers President Alvin B. Canlas (231), Secretary/Treasurer The skill lab is able to provide a variety of other Media/Events Coordinator (232). They can be resources and assistance, especially after the initial reached via the community shell on ANGEL. As always, pizza will be served and ALL students are Math practice sheets and assistance with math concepts. Assistance with care plans and concept Our goal is to help mold the future professionals of the
nursing field. Only through involvement can we implement
maps. Viewing of helpful supplemental videos/DVS in change. You are the future leaders of the nursing profession.
addition to those that are required. The skill lab has a Professionalism and Leadership begin here. (NJSNA, 2009)
large variety of media that relates to both theory content and skills. These can be an excellent review and/or alternative format for learning and studying. TSON Math Guidelines
Start off the semester right. Be sure to review and utilize the TSON Math Guidelines. These are also available to
students on their course ANGEL shell, as well as on the “Community Shell”. The community shell, also known as “Trinitas
students, faculty, administration information and notification” can be accessed by clicking the link on the left side of the
opening page of ANGEL. All information is contained in the tab “content” found at the top of the page. It is each student’s
individual responsibility to be aware of this information.
Basic rounding of decimal points: .4 or less goes down

What should be rounded

• IV rate per hour: IV 1 liter every 12 hours = 83.3 ml per hour. Should be rounded to 83 ml per hour.

Rationale: IV rates should not be set with a decimal. Even if the pump allows it, it can lead to errors in setting the
pump and could lead to significant errors in volume delivered.

• IV rates per hour for a dose of medication:

Rationale: IV rates for medication being delivered by IV infusion should not be set with a decimal. Even if the pump
allows it, it can lead to errors in setting the pump and could lead to significant errors in volume and amount of
medication delivered.
Examples:

• Rocephin 1 gram in 200 ml over 90 minutes = 133.3 ml per hour – should be rounded to 133 ml per hour
• Heparin 20,000 units in 250 ml at 1100 units per hour = 13.75 ml per hour – should be rounded to 14 ml per hour
• Dopamine 400mg in 250 ml at 7mcg/kg/min for a 70 kg patient = 18.375 ml per hour – should be rounded to 18 ml per
• Drops per minute: 150 ml over 1 hour using 15 gtts/ml tubing = 37.5 gtts per min. Should be rounded to 38
gtts per min.
Rationale: It is impossible to deliver gtts/min in anything other than whole numbers

What should not be rounded

• Kg from pounds should be left 72.5 kg, 68.8 kg. Answers with several decimal places should be rounded to the
nearest 10th. Example: 86.37, round to 86.4. 5lb infant = 2.272. Should be rounded to nearest 10th = 2.3 Kg
Rationale: Rounding when doing weight dosing can significantly alter the amount of medication being delivered.
• Questions that answer the question; what is the dose of medication? Rationale: When calculating a dose, the exact dose of medication is required. Rounding up or down would change
the dose being administered.
Examples

Order: Cefatan 450 mg. Concentration: 1000 mg in 5 ml. How many ml must the nurse administer? Answer 2.25 ml:
The answer is 2.25 = 450 mg, NOT 2 ml. 2 ml would not equal 450 mg. Again it would be reasonable to round to the 10th
2.25 could be rounded to 2.3, but not to 2ml.
Order: Reglan 6mg IVP. Concentration 10 mg in 3 ml. How many ml must the nurse administer? Answer 1.8 ml: The
answer is 1.8 ml = 6 mg, NOT 2 ml. 2 ml would not equal 6 mg.
•
Use a leading zero before a decimal place: .25 mg should be Math answers should be labeled as appropriate Grams must be written out as grams and not g or G Units must be written out as units and not u or U

Source: http://www.trinitasschoolofnursing.org/sna.pdf