Dosage calculation question

lmccrn62, MSN, RN · Mar 17, 2014

So the question is how many units of insulin in each ml?

Lame · Mar 17, 2014

So the question is how many units of insulin in each ml?

How many mls of insulin per hour

smf0903 · Mar 17, 2014

Hi everyone! I'm really stuck on this problem and was wondering if anyone could explain how to do this
You mix 100 units of insulin in 100 ml of normal saline. How many units of insulin will you administer per hour? You choose to use a syringe pump, what would be the programming to run the infusion (mls/hr) as ordered?
This is for a peds patient that weighs 48 kg. The order is continuous infusion of insulin at 0.1 unit/kg/hr, which is 4.8 units/hr.
I dunno why this question is throwing me off so much!
Thanks!

It'd be 4.8mL/hr...

4.8 units/hr x 100mL/100units= 4.8 mL/hr For some reason people get thrown when there's a 1:1 ratio which makes the answer the same (just different units of measure) LOL Have a good one :)

lmccrn62, MSN, RN · Mar 22, 2014

I knew the question I was asking you but differently so you would see a 1:1 ratio. Often we read to deeply into a question.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2014

I think you took the first part you describe and panicked when they asked you how many cc per hour. What you ought to have done was first figure out how many units per cc you have in your solution-- clearly, 100 units in 100cc means one unit per cc -- and then see how much to give.

You correctly figured out the dose, 4.8 units per hour. So now all you have to do is think about is, "How many cc makes 4.8 units?" The obvious answer is that if one unit is one cc, then 4.8 units is 4.8 cc. No formula needed for that part.

I have no idea what you mean by a 1:1 ratio having anything to do with solving this problem.

Before you ever solve any med math calculation, whether for an exam or for a clinical situation, stop and ask what the problem really asks you. I see so many students who have a formula and look frantically for ways to plug numbers into it. So often, they plug in the wrong ones, or they don't see that the word problem gives them extraneous information that screws things up if they use those numbers. People who write exam questions know this, and give extraneous info and offer at least one distractor (a wrong answer choice) that will result if it's used. Be careful out there.