Understanding Drug Labels (Nursing)

00:01 Welcome back. Let’s take a look at a label.

00:04 Now, this is a blown up version of a label.

00:07 There are lots and lots of words on there.

00:10 So, let’s walk through some of it together.

00:12 Now, you can see on the right side, let’s start there.

00:16 That’s kind of the less busy version of the side of the label.

00:20 Now, you see that pharmaceutical company up there is Lawes.

00:23 That’s my last name.

00:25 So, we just made that up there because this is a label just for fun.

00:29 If I did run a pharmaceutical company, this is what I would call antibiotics, BugAway.

00:34 I like that name. It’s oral suspension.

00:37 Now, the next letters you see 250 mg.

00:42 That means 250 milligrams in every 5 milliliters.

00:48 All right, so if you divide 250 by 5, how many milligrams do you have per milliliter? Right, you’ve got 50 milligrams per milliliter.

01:00 All right, so you know what we have.

01:02 The pharmaceutical company name is usually at the top.

01:04 We said my last name just for fun.

01:06 The name of the drug is BugAway because they let me name it.

01:11 It’s an oral suspension.

01:13 That means we’re going to give it by mouth.

01:15 250 milligrams of BugAway in every 5 milliliters or 50 milligrams per milliliter.

01:24 So, that tells me the amount of the drug in the liquid measurement.

01:30 Milligrams is the amount of drug, the dosage, total.

01:34 5 milliliters is a liquid measurement.

01:38 Now, I can draw that up in a syringe.

01:40 I could pour that into a cup.

01:42 But those are ways that are liquid measurements.

01:45 Just be clear on that. Milligrams is the dosage.

01:48 Milliliters is a liquid measurement.

01:52 Now, over on the left side, you see a term there.

01:57 It says usual dose.

01:59 Children, 20-40 mg per kilogram in a day in three divided doses.

02:06 Okay, the rest of it talks about adult dosing, 250 milligrams, three times a day.

02:12 So gosh, that one’s already easy, right? We know there’s 250 milligrams in 5 mL.

02:16 So, we would just give 5 mL to an adult three times a day.

02:20 Now, go on and tell us lots more.

02:22 Like look at the literature.

02:23 All drugs come with an insert.

02:26 You can also look at the insert for more information, more detailed information than we have here.

02:30 You can look in the PDR, the physician’s desk reference.

02:34 Most hospitals have some type of system where you can also look up medications.

02:39 Now, on down from this, we’ve got some other drugs that are in there and some more information about it.

02:44 We’re not going to focus on that right now because we’re just looking, we’re learning how to do dosage calculation.

02:51 The rest of the things prior to mixing, it tells you how to do it.

02:55 What a teaspoonful is, 5 mL.

02:57 Shake well before using.

02:58 Those are other important instructions but not for this video.

03:02 We’re going to focus on how to figure out what a safe and correct dose is.