To calculate dosages and solution rates, nurses use clinical decision making and professional thinking skills. There are times when nurses make calculations errors that are completely ridiculous, while other times when these calculations appear to be correct. Although there is no room for error, a nurse should be able to recognize when a calculation is incorrect. For example, if a nurse calculates an intravenous flow rate and the result is that the rate of flow should be 250 gtts per minute, the nurse should immediately recognize that this answer is absurd because it is impossible to count this many drops per minute accurately. In this case, the nurse should recalculate the flow rate. If you calculate the number of tablets to administer to the client per the doctor's order and your math indicates that you should give 1/8th of a tablet or 12 tablets, for example, you should be aware that your calculations are incorrect because these answers are absurd. Based on your knowledge of pharmacology and the usual pediatric and adult dosages for all medications, you can also apply clinical decision making and professional thinking skills to the calculation of dosages and solution rates. When calculating a dosage for a medication like digoxin, for example, and your calculation indicates that you should administer 2 1/2 milligrams, you should immediately recognize that this dosage is far above the usual dosage for digoxin. You should repeat your calculations and double-check them to ensure that they are correct.