Dosage Calc.

[STL2008, RN]

ok. so we are going to have at least one question like this, this coming monday on the test.

the problem is i dont get it. we never went over on how to do these iv calculations.

if someone could show me how to do it. that would be great!

[color=#666600]18.the patient is admitted to the labor and delivery unit for a medical induction of labor. the physician orders a continuous infusion of pitocin to begin at 4 mu/min. the iv bag is 1000 ml lr with 20 units of pitocin. how many ml/hr will you infuse the pitocin using and infusion pump?

[color=#999900]

a. 2

b. 3

c. 6

d. 12

the answer is d. 12. i keep getting 12000 as the answer:confused:

[morte, LPN, LVN]

well....if the answer is truly 12, you are closer than i am, lol. I get 5...

show how you are setting it up.....

[CharlieT]

If I understand the question correctly the Pitocin is running at 4 milliunits per min. It looks like you need to convert the milliunits to units first, this would be .004 units because 1 unit = 1000 milliunits.

Now lets do the math.

.004 x 60min = .24 units per hour

.24 x 1000mL = 240

240 / 20units = 12

Charlie

[CharlieT]

Let me know if you need a better explaination of the math. I did not put the math in detail because I suspect that you did not convert the milliunits to units based on your answer of 12000.

Good luck on the test.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

yup, except to avoid the dec., convert the units to miliunits.....20000/1000 : 240/x

the 240 is were i went wrong....thanks

[CharlieT]

That works also. I prefer to change to the units asked for in the question, just the way I like to do it. I use ratio and proportion but many use the formula method. Makes no difference as long as you come up with the correct answer.