Units of measure

[QWIK83]

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Do pharmacists still use drams, scruples and grains when dealing with meds? We had a ? in general chem today about what would something in mg be in grains and also in ounce ap. Just struck a little curiosity as I've never heard of these units and thought it was interesting. Thanks.

 

[Hels2007]

No, not really. Other than the amber vials in which medications are dispensed are still being called 10-dram, 60-dram, etc.

But as a pharmacy student you better know those things, because these weird outdated units are fair game on NAPLEX.

 

[howelljolly]

I think nitroglycerine is still dispensed in grains... but I could be wrong.

 

[Hels2007]

I think nitroglycerine is still dispensed in grains... but I could be wrong.

Not really. It's pretty much completely shifted to milligrams. 0.4 mg SL, not 1/150 gr...

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

armor thyroid... some liquids, and them vials.

 

[mike36]

Do pharmacists still use drams, scruples and grains when dealing with meds? We had a ? in general chem today about what would something in mg be in grains and also in ounce ap. Just struck a little curiosity as I've never heard of these units and thought it was interesting. Thanks.

Kinda weird to talk about those units in gen chem isn't? I had not heard them until I got to pharmacy school.

 

[BravoKilo]

armor thyroid... some liquids, and them vials.

even then armour thyroid has the mg equivalents right on the bottle

 

[AvocadoLover]

I was totally surprised when I had a doc write "APAP X (roman numeral) gr." And even more surprised I remembered how many mg=gr! Since, then Ive seen MANY old school docs use this at the hospital I work at.

 

[Knipps]

I actually was given a script in lab today written in grains (1/4 grain.)
I know what it is now. Before that it was never even addressed.

 

[Old Timer]

Until doctors stop writing in the apothecary system, pharmacists still have to be aware of it....

 

[QWIK83]

Kinda weird to talk about those units in gen chem isn't? I had not heard them until I got to pharmacy school.

It was a bonus word problem on a test about doing conversion factors right.

Apothecaries commonly use the units dram, ounce ap, scruple and grain to measure amounts of medication. If you were to have 388mg of aspirin what would it be in grains? ounce ap?

and he only gave us a conversion for grams to drams and drams thru the rest of the other units and told us to go from there. It was fun. It sucked having units my ti-84 couldnt convert in scitools lol.

 

[Praziquantel86]

I was totally surprised when I had a doc write "APAP X (roman numeral) gr." And even more surprised I remembered how many mg=gr! Since, then Ive seen MANY old school docs use this at the hospital I work at.

They still use the apothecary system at a hospital? When was the last time JCAHO came through?