I've been a nurse for over 8 years now...2 years med-surg and the rest doing ICU/CCU. I love critical care! I know I learned all those equations in school as well, but one thing you'll need to learn once you're out of school is what kind of IV pumps you have. Also pharmacy is supposed to have gtt rates on the label (ours is there anyway unless it's a stat med or out of the code cart). Our Baxter pumps are awesome. It pretty much does all the calculations for you. Most iv antibiotics are over 30, 60, 90 minutes so it's pretty easy to figure. Also some of the loading dose meds such as cardizem run the bolus over about a 10 min. time... again easy to figure. Some of the meds out there have info sheets as to what to bolus/ load prior to starting the gtt...such as aggrastat, integrilin. PM me if you have specific questions...I may be able to help you... especially if it's cardiac related since that's my specialty!
