dosage calculation

Can someone out there please help me figure out this problem and explain how it's done?

A cardiac patient is receiving an IV of 2 grams of isoproterenol in 500 ml of D5W at 30 drops/min. (60 drops = 1 ml)

How many mg of isoproterenol is the patient receiving per minute?

Thanks in advance.......

Using dimensional analysis I got 2mg per min.

First you have to know that: 2G isoproterenol = 2000 mg

mg/min is what you are looking for, so you'd set your equation up as follows:

2000 mg/500ml x 1ml/60gtt x 30gtt/1min = 2000x1x30/500x60x1= 2 mg/min.

If you are not familiar with DA, then this may be confusing to you. If so, I'm sorry for the confusion.

Can someone out there please help me figure out this problem and explain how it's done?

A cardiac patient is receiving an IV of 2 grams of isoproterenol in 500 ml of D5W at 30 drops/min. (60 drops = 1 ml)

How many mg of isoproterenol is the patient receiving per minute?

Thanks in advance.......

I'll take a crack at it.

First, find out how many ml are in 30 drops.

30 drops/ x ml = 60 drops/ 1 ml = 0.5 ml per 30 drops

Now you can just set up a proprtion of mg per ml......

2 g / 500 ml = x g / .5 ml = 0.002 grams per minute.

Hopefully, that makes sense.

Well, there ya' go...now you have TWO ways to do it! :)

Oops! I forgot to type in converting g to mg....sorry.

.002g x 1000mg/g = 2 mg

Well, there ya' go...now you have TWO ways to do i! :)

proportion is probably the easier way to do the problem, and I think it is the way most people learn, however DA has always been easier for me. People think I'm crazy when I say I always do DA unless I can d/h x q.

Thank you all for your help! I usually use ratio and proportion way and couldn't figure out where the instructor got the .5 ml.

The rest of the "set up" I could get.

Thanks again - wish me luck.. D&S test on Monday. 2 chances to get a 90.