Pediatric IV Medications

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hi Everyone,

I'm going into my 2nd week and I am really stumped of what would be the easiest way to remember where to get these numbers and where to put them. I know some of the info is self-explanatory but from "maximum concentration" to "do you need to stop or decrease main IV line" is very confusing. I know some of the info will come from the doctors orders, but just looking at these med sheets we need to fill our every week is totally over-whelming. Can anyone give me an easy explanation?

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peds iv rates and dosages are based on weights unlike most of adults iv meds. The Dr will usually give you a dosage in mg/kg/hr..then you do the calculation to figure out the rate the iv will run into the pt. Make sure the weight is ACURATE! We had a child in ketoacidosis that was being treated wrong because of a stated weight instead of an actual scale weight..muy importante!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Hi Everyone,

I'm going into my 2nd week and I am really stumped of what would be the easiest way to remember where to get these numbers and where to put them. I know some of the info is self-explanatory but from "maximum concentration" to "do you need to stop or decrease main IV line" is very confusing. I know some of the info will come from the doctors orders, but just looking at these med sheets we need to fill our every week is totally over-whelming. Can anyone give me an easy explanation?

YOu will fill these out when caring for patients. A good site to learn dosages calculations.....DosageHelp.com - Helping Nursing Students Learn Dosage Calculations

1) generic name/trade name....classification...you will get this information from a drug book/PDR/internet here is a good one: Drug tables - Medication Tables - Drug classes

2) purpose.....why is your patient on this med. You will learn how to critically think that when you know what the drug is for and what is wrong with the patient you will learn what it is for. for example: you have a child admitted with fever and pneumonia. They are on an antibiotic. Why are they on an antibiotic? because they have an infection.

3) childs weight in kg. There is 2,2lbs/kg. ALL children need a CURRENT and ACCURATE weight for they are easily over and under dosed. Where do you get it? You weigh them.

4) dosage ordered....the MD orders

5) available from pharmacy......what did the pharmacy send? not all drugs come oin the exact dosage and you need to figure out the dose....you get this from the bottle/IV etc.

6)safe dose.....all meds have a max 24 hour dose. You will learn that when you look it up.

7)childs dose....what is max for this child mg/kg/24 hours

The rest are math questions tailored to your patients weight.......you will do this on all your patients not just peds....but peds is the most important for they are small and can be easily hurt.

Take a deep breath in .....let it out. ((HUGS)) come back when you have questions.

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