Pitocin Calculation HELP!!!

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  1. by Jan 13, '09
    I am just a little confused. My professor was not quite clear on the instuctions of how to calculate the pitocin. I will give a practice qestion. Any help would be great.

    The MD orders the pitocin drip to begin at 2 miliunits of pitocin per minute. The NS 1000 mL has 10 units of pitocin. What is your IV rate?
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  4. 2 Comments so far...

  5. Jan 13, '09 by
    Hope this helps. And I hope its right. Here goes
    First figure your concentration--10u/1000ml
    Multiply that by 1min/.002u (which is 2 miliunits i think)
    Then multiply that answer by 60 (60 min in 1 hour) to get your answer in ml/hr.
    I got .3 ml/hr.
    I'm sorry if it's wrong or if i confused you. Just trying to help.
    futurenurseWen likes this.
  6. Jan 13, '09 by
    the md orders the pitocin drip to begin at 2 miliunits of pitocin per minute. the ns 1000 ml has 10 units of pitocin. what is your iv rate?
    it is standard to put 10 units of pitocin (oxytocin) in a liter of fluid. there are 1000 milliunits per 1 unit.

    1000 ml/10 units (dose on hand) x 1 unit/1000 mu (conversion factor) x 2 mu/minute (dose desired) x 60 minutes/hour (conversion factor) = 12 ml/hour (iv rate)
    studentRN2be, BelleMorteRN, and futurenurseWen like this.