Yet another reason why paramedicine should include an associates or BA level education. A requirement such as Gen-Chem would lay a basis for dimensional analysis.
Or at least have instructors capable of teaching dimensional analysis.
I was teaching med calcs (with DA) to a paramedic class for the first time about 8 months ago, and the lead instructor (no longer the lead instructor) pretty much balked and said "No one is going to be able to do that at 3 in the morning" and cut me off.
Needless to say, I am now in the lead instructor cadre, and the students learn DA, plain and simple. I don't expect them to whip it out for every 3 AM call they go on, but the basic concept of being able to calculate through multiple unit conversions is invaluable. The students seem to agree.
One of the things I like best about DA is that if you set up your units correctly, you should be able to cancel all the way through your equation and see if you have a reasonable answer before you even touch any mathematics.
Another thing I always tell students when doing med math is before you even do any math, look at the concentration of the medication and determine what is a reasonable volume for administration. For example, if you have a med that comes packaged 10 mg/ml in a 1 ml vial and your final answer says you need to administer 50 ml of volume, there is something definitely wrong. That answer means you would need 50 vials of that medication!
With a few exceptions, most manufacturers package medication so that a typical dose can be administered without having to open multiple packages.
If you would like, feel free to PM me. We can skype or chat sometime and I will run you through DA until you're blue in the face...
