How Is Algebra Used in Nursing?

Video Transcript

"So how is Algebra use in Nursing? Hi, I'm Jimmy Chang. I've been teaching College Mathematics for nine years and we're here to talk about that topic right now. Now there's actually quite a bit of Math use in Nursing and here's a few examples as to where you might actually use it, whether it'd Mathematics or a little more involve Algebra. Now for starters it's very important that in Nursing you really have a strong understanding and grasp of ratios, proportions and percentages. Now that's because oftentimes there's, you're not going to work with whole numbers all the time in Nursing. In fact, more often than not, much more often than not, you'll be working with parts of fractions or fractions of whole numbers or, but you're definitely going to work in between whole numbers. You're not going to work with just ones, two's or five's or ten's; you're going to be working with a lot of decimals and fractions. It's really important that you know how to get those ratios and proportions and percents down. It goes without saying that in Nursing measurement is use often. You have to measure blood levels, urine levels, drip rates, the amount of, a drug to give to a patient, etc. Measurement is a very critical part of Nursing. Dimensional analysis is also very critical part in Nursing. Now dimensional analysis means converting from one unit to another with depending on what kind of unit that you're looking for. Oftentimes it's starting with a unit and if you want to convert to another desired unit, then that's what dimensional analysis comes in. You have to work with fractions, with just what we talked about from the beginning and you're working with larger as well as smaller numbers. And that ties in with the last part we're going to be talking about briefly, is that the metric system. Oftentimes, when Nursing you have to convert from pounds to kilograms, from ounces to, let's just say milligrams, etc. because often the metric system is use very frequently in Nursing. So couple of dimensional analysis is very important for those working in Nursing to convert from the English units which we're using to the Metric System. So I'm Jimmy Chang and these are some examples as to how Algebra is use in Nursing."