How Is Math Used In The Medical Field

Doctors and nurses use math every day while providing health care. Numbers provide information for medical professionals. Math is used throughout the health care industry. Everything from doctors to pharmacy technicians.1 Prescriptions indicate a specific medication and dosage amount. Most medication dosage amounts are in milligrams (mg) per kilogram (kg). A doctor will need to determine how many milligrams of medication the patient will need depending on the patients weight. In order to do this the doctor will have to know how to accurately convert weight measurements. They will also need to determine how long a medication will stay active in your system. This will indicate how often the patient will need to take their medication. The amount of …show more content…
The nurse must convert micrograms (mcg) to milligrams (mg). Numbers give doctors information about a patient’s condition. White blood cell counts are presented as a numerical number. Pharmacy is the science and technique of preparing and dispensing drugs. It is one of the health care professions that links both health sciences and chemical sciences.3 The oldest pharmacy is claimed to be founded in 1221 in Florence, Italy.4 In order to be a pharmacy technician you must know basic math, the metric system, calculations, and business math. Basic math skills include knowing how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Metric system math includes the standard method for weight and measurements.5 Calculations is knowing how to convert dosage amounts and determine how much of a medication they will need to provide the patient with. The pharmacist must know business math terminology. The majority of pharmacy math calculations involve converting from one system of measurement to another. They will need to convert from the household measuring system to the metric system. The technician will also use proportional math to determine correct dosages. It is important to remember the correct abbreviations when writing out