Nurses use a great deal of math in their jobs.
Labor and delivery nurses need more than a caring bedside manner and the ability to work independently--they also need to know a wide variety of mathematics for their daily tasks. From administering medications to monitoring equipment, nurses must employ mathematical knowledge to effectively perform their jobs.
Equipment
Labor and delivery nurses use electronic devices (like a fetal monitoring device) and analog devices (like blood pressure cuffs). Basic math is required to operate and interpret all of these devices, and temperature conversion (for example, from Celsius to Fahrenheit) is often necessary.
Monitoring
Women in labor need constant monitoring. According to the University of Virginia Health System, the following four patient conditions need to be monitored: temperature, pulse rate, rate of breathing and blood pressure. All of these often involve basic math skills. For example, temperatures often have to be converted from Fahrenheit to Celsius and pulse rate, breathing and blood pressure must be measured and compared to normal readings.
Intravenous (IV) Fluids
Patients in labor and delivery sometimes require intravenous fluids, which are administered by a nurse. If the IV does not have an infusion pump, a nurse must set up the pump's drip rate manually. According to Alamo Colleges, a nurse might have to take a prescribed order and convert the medication into the prescribed concentration.
Oral Medications
As well as IV infusion, labor and delivery nurses use math for administering oral medicine. Once a medication is prescribed, a nurse will calculate how much medicine to give to a patient. For example, if the medication states a person should get 1 teaspoon per 100 pounds of weight, the nurse should be able to calculate that a 200-pound patient will need 2 teaspoons.
Types of Math Used
Labor and delivery nurses use a variety of math skills on the job, including basic math (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), unit conversion, algebra (sometimes necessary for certain conversions like temperature) and chart/graph reading skills.
Tags: delivery nurses, blood pressure, Labor delivery, Labor delivery nurses, breathing blood
