A dose of medication is prescribed as 1.5 grams, but it is available at 500 mg tablets. How many tablets should the nurse give?

To determine how many 500 mg tablets are needed to equal a dose of 1.5 grams, it is important to first convert grams to milligrams, since the medication availability is given in milligrams.

1.5 grams is equal to 1500 milligrams (since 1 gram equals 1000 milligrams).

Next, you can divide the total milligrams required by the strength of each tablet:

1500 mg (required dose) ÷ 500 mg (per tablet) = 3 tablets.

Thus, the nurse should provide 3 tablets to meet the prescribed dosage. This calculation confirms that the correct answer is 3 tablets.