|
|
Why should you know dose calculations?
Each year thousands of patients die in the United States form medication errors. Chemotherapy drugs are very toxic and minor errors in the dosing can cause serious consequences including death. Several thousand deaths occur all over the world due to mistakes in administration of chemotherapy. By knowing the basis of your dose calculation and calculating the chemotherapy doses yourself, you can help your oncologist and nurses to avoid any mistakes in calculation of your doses. If you have a clear concept about dose calculation in oncology, you can ask your oncology nurse what is your BSA and what is your dose and if it is different from the dose you have calculated you can ask the nurse to recalculate your BSA and total dose. By knowing what drug you are getting and what dose of that drug your oncologist is suggesting, and by knowing your BSA, you can help your oncologist, oncology nurse and yourself to avoid chemotherapy errors.
|
|
