Dosage Calculations

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Tele, Vascular, Plastics.
deeelightfuldiva said:
Hello everyone... I am having a problem figuring out IV flow rate question, It states:

Your patient has an order to receive 800 units of Heparin per hour by continuous intravenous infusion. If the pharmacy mixes the IV bag to contain a total of 5,000 units of Heparin in 500mL of D5W, how many cc's per minute should the patient receive?, am I using the correct formula? Rate/ml available X dose available...

Hello

First I have to ask if you wrote the question correctly, because it is unusual to see cc's per minute.... typically IV flow rates will ask drops per minute or mL per hour...

so lets assume its drops (gtt) per minute

use the formula: DESIRED OVER HAVE ON HAND X QUANTITY

800u/hr X 500 mL = 80 mL/hr

5000 ml

to figure the drops per minute you need to know if you have macrodrop set IV tubing or microdrip set... most institutions use a macrodrip set of 15...

the shortcut method is to use a "DROP FACTOR" which = # gtt in 1 mL

shortcut formula is 60 divided by 15 to give you a drop factor of 4...

mL/hr divided by the drop factor will give you the gtt/min or drops per minute...

80 mL / Hr divided by 4 = 20 gtt/min

Now if you recheck the question, and it truely is asking for the cc's per minute...

well there are 60 minutes in an hour...

so divide 80 mL by 60 to = 1.3333

Hope this helps!

Good luck,

Angie

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN

49 Articles; 5,349 Posts

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Excellent free resources on math, including STATISTICS! Requires sign-on, but is free:

http://www.learner.org/resources/browse.html?discipline=5&grade=0&imageField2.x=9&imageField2.y=11

Fox

247 Posts

Hello all,

i am currently brushing up on more dosage calculations and i need help on the following problems:

1. Order is to give amoxicillin 125mg suspension p.o. Every 6 hours. You have available 250mg/5ml of amoxicillin. How many ___ml will you give each dose? How many ___mg/24 hours will this patient receive? I only need the second part.

2. The physician orders 500ml of 5%dw to run 150ml per hours. How many drops per minute should the iv drip (15 gtt/ml set)?

3. Order 500ml 20% dw iv are to be infused in 4 hours. The drop factor is 15 gtt = 1ml. How many milliliters per hour will the patient receive?

This is how i solved the problem. 500ml divide by 4 hrs = 125ml/hr (is this right?)

4. The physician orders 1000 ml of lr to run over a 24 hour period. How many microdrops per minute should the iv drip (60 gtt/ml set)

this is how i solved the problem. 1000ml divide by 24 hrs = 42 gtt/per (is this right?)

5. Order: 500 ml 5% d/w, with 4 g of mgs04 20% solution. Patient to receive 1 g per hour. Calculate the infusion rate if the drop factor is 15 gtt = 1 ml. How many ml/hr?

6. Order: 50 cc 5% d/w with 1 g ampicillin (omnipen) iv in 20 minutes. Calculate the rate of flow in ml/per hour and gtts/ml using 15 gtt/ml?

This is how i solved the problem.

60 min divide by 20 min = 3 min

50ml x 3 min = 150 ml/hr

50ml x 15 gtt/ml divide 20 min = 38 gtt/ min (is this right?)

7. The patient must receive 500 u of heparin iv every hour. If the order is "add 10,000 u of heparin to 1000 ml of 5% d/w." how many drop per minute will the patient receive? Drop factor 15 gtt = 1 ml. Hint: the patient would be on an iv pump so you would basically sovle for the ml/hr.

8. The iv in progress is 1000 ml of normal saline with 10 meq of kci, and 800 ml remain to be infused. The order is to increase the kci to 40 meq per liter. How many meq of kci will you add to the 800 ml remaining? This might occur in a critical care unit, but unlikely out on a med-surg floor.

9. Doctor has ordered heparin infusion of 25,000 units in 500 ml of 5% dw to run at 75 u/min. How many ____units will you be administering per hour? How many ___ ml will you be infusing per hour?

10. Physician's order: 500cc 5% d/w with 2 gm of lidocaine iv. How many drops per minute would you administer if the patient must receive 2mg/min? The drop factor is 15 gtt = 1 ml.

11. Order 1000cc 5% d/w are to be infused with 10,000 u hepain iv. If the rate of flow 30 gtt/min and the drop factor is 10 gtt = 1 ml, how many milliliters per hour will the patient receive?

12. Order 500 ml 5%d/w with 4 g of mgso4 20% solution. Patient to receive 1 g per hour. Calculate the infusion rate if the drop factor is 15 gtt = 1 ml/hr?

13. The patient must receive 500 u of heparin iv every hour. If the order is "add 10,000 u of heparin to 1000 ml of 5% d/w, how many drops per minute will the patient receive? Drop factor 15 gtt = 1 ml.

Thanks in advance!!!

Daytonite, BSN, RN

1 Article; 14,603 Posts

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
Quote
order is to give amoxicillin 125mg suspension p.o. every 6 hours. you have available 250mg/5ml of amoxicillin. how many ___ml will you give each dose? how many ___mg/24 hours will this patient receive?

125 mg/1 (dose desired) x 5 ml/250 mg (dose desired) = 2.5 ml (amount to give for one dose)

if a dose is being given every 6 hours and there are 24 hours in a day then there are 24/6 = 4 doses being given in a 24 hour period. if each dose is 125 mg, then 125 mg x 4 doses = 500 mg being given/24 hours.

Quote
the physician orders 500ml of 5%dw to run 150ml per hours. how many drops per minute should the iv drip (15 gtt/ml set)?

150 ml/1 hour (amount to give) x 15 gtts/1 ml (drip factor) x 1 hour/60 minutes (conversion factor) = 37.5 gtts/minute, rounded off to 38 gtts/minute

Quote
order 500ml 20% dw iv are to be infused in 4 hours. the drop factor is 15 gtt = 1ml. how many milliliters per hour will the patient receive?

this is a simple fracture/ratio reduction problem:

500 ml/4 hours = 125 ml/1 hour

Quote
the physician orders 1000 ml of lr to run over a 24 hour period. how many microdrops per minute should the iv drip (60 gtt/ml set)

1000 ml/24 hours (amount to give) x 60 gtts/1 ml (drop factor) x 1 hours/60 minute (conversion factor) = 41.666 gtts/minute, rounded off to 42 gtts/minute

Quote
order: 500 ml 5% d/w, with 4 g of mgs04 20% solution. patient to receive 1 g per hour. calculate the infusion rate if the drop factor is 15 gtt = 1 ml. how many ml/hr?

500 ml/4 grams (dose on hand) x 1 gram/1 hour (dose desired) x 15 gtts/1 ml (drop factor) x 1 hour/60 minute (conversion factor) = 31.25 gtts/minute, rounded off to 31 gtts/minute

Quote
order: 50 cc 5% d/w with 1 g ampicillin (omnipen) iv in 20 minutes. calculate the rate of flow in ml/per hour and gtts/min using 15 gtt/ml?

50 cc/20 minutes (dose to give) x 60 minutes/1 hour (conversion factor) = 150 cc (ml)/hour

150 ml/1 hour (dose to give) x 15 gtts/1 ml (drop factor) x 1 hour/60 minutes (conversion factor) = 37.5 gtts/minute, rounded off to 38 gtts/minute

Quote
the patient must receive 500 u of heparin iv every hour. if the order is "add 10,000 u of heparin to 1000 ml of 5% d/w." how many drops per minute will the patient receive? drop factor 15 gtt = 1 ml. hint: the patient would be on an iv pump so you would basically solve for the ml/hr.

500 units/1 hour (dose desired) x 1000 ml/10,000 units (dose on hand) = 50 ml/hour (dose to give)

Quote
the iv in progress is 1000 ml of normal saline with 10 meq of kci, and 800 ml remain to be infused. the order is to increase the kci to 40 meq per liter. how many meq of kci will you add to the 800 ml remaining? this might occur in a critical care unit, but unlikely out on a med-surg floor.

10 meq/1000 ml = x meq/800 ml, solve for x = 8 meq of kci

40 meq/1000 ml = x meq/800 ml, solve for x = 32 meq of kci

you need 32 meq of kci in the current iv to bring the concentration to 40 meq of kci/1000 ml, so 32 meq (dose desired) - 8 meq (dose on hand) = 24 meq (amount of kci to add to the infusion)

Quote
doctor has ordered heparin infusion of 25,000 units in 500 ml of 5% dw to run at 75 u/min. how many ____units will you be administering per hour? how many ___ ml will you be infusing per hour?

75 units/1 minute (dose being given) x 60 minutes/1 hour (conversion factor) = 4500 units/1 hour

4500 units/1 hour (amount being given) x 500 ml/25,000 units (dose on hand) = 90 ml/hour (infusion rate)

Quote
physician's order: 500cc 5% d/w with 2 gm of lidocaine iv. how many drops per minute would you administer if the patient must receive 2mg/min? the drop factor is 15 gtt = 1 ml.

2 mg/1 minute (dose desired) x 500 cc, or ml/2 grams (dose on hand) x 1 gram/1000 mg (conversion factor) x 15 gtts/1 ml (drop factor) = 7.5 gtts/minute, rounded off to 8 gtts/minute

Quote
order 1000cc 5% d/w are to be infused with 10,000 u heparin iv. if the rate of flow 30 gtt/min and the drop factor is 10 gtt = 1 ml, how many milliliters per hour will the patient receive?

30 gtts/minute (flow rate) x 1 ml/10 gtts (drop factor) x 60 minutes/1 hour (conversion factor) = 180 ml/hour (amount being given)

Quote
order 500 ml 5%d/w with 4 g of mgso4 20% solution. patient to receive 1 g per hour. calculate the infusion rate if the drop factor is 15 gtt = 1 ml/hr?

1 gram/1 hour (dose desired) x 500 ml/4 grams (dose on hand) x 1 hour/60 minutes (conversion factor) x 15 gtts/1 ml (drip factor) = 31.25 gtts/minute, rounded off to 31 gtts/minute

Quote
the patient must receive 500 u of heparin iv every hour. if the order is "add 10,000 u of heparin to 1000 ml of 5% d/w, how many drops per minute will the patient receive? drop factor 15 gtt = 1 ml.

500 units/hour (dose desired) x 1000 ml/10,000 units (dose on hand) x 15 gtts/1 ml (drop factor) x 1 hour/60 minutes (conversion factor) = 12.5 gtts/minute, rounded off to 13 gtts/minute

I understand exactly how you feel I'm currently in my third nursing semester; last semester I did not pass my first dosage calc test, however I ended up Aceing the second one. I know that right now it feels like you just can't do it! But YOU CAN DO IT!!! As you may already be familiar w/the process of nursing school of having to pull it together and continue on. As a matter of fact I was just surfing the web for dosage calc problem to practice (I have an exam in a couple of weeks) all you need to do is type in nursing dosage calculations and a lot of sites will come up, I've found some really helpful sites.

Hang in there, I know you can do this!!!

shauntaebrit

21 Posts

I hope you guy dont mind but I am practicing for my first exam and I get lost on problems just like these. I like to gather this information and use it to help me to understand how to do IV drips.

Daytonite, BSN, RN

1 Article; 14,603 Posts

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
shauntaebrit said:
i hope you guy dont mind but i am practicing for my first exam and i get lost on problems just like these. i like to gather this information and use it to help me to understand how to do iv drips.

you will find information and links to websites that have practice problems on how to do iv drip problems on post #6 of this thread in the student forums: https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/any-good-iv-therapy-nursing-procedure-web-sites-127657.html - any good iv therapy or nursing procedure web sites

Nrs_angie said:
Hello

First I have to ask if you wrote the question correctly, because it is unusual to see cc's per minute.... typically IV flow rates will ask drops per minute or mL per hour...

so lets assume its drops (gtt) per minute

use the formula: DESIRED OVER HAVE ON HAND X QUANTITY

800u/hr X 500 mL = 80 mL/hr

5000 ml

to figure the drops per minute you need to know if you have macrodrop set IV tubing or microdrip set... most institutions use a macrodrip set of 15...

the shortcut method is to use a "DROP FACTOR" which = # gtt in 1 mL

shortcut formula is 60 divided by 15 to give you a drop factor of 4...

mL/hr divided by the drop factor will give you the gtt/min or drops per minute...

80 mL / Hr divided by 4 = 20 gtt/min

Now if you recheck the question, and it truely is asking for the cc's per minute...

well there are 60 minutes in an hour...

so divide 80 mL by 60 to = 1.3333

Hope this helps!

Good luck,

Angie

Actually the 5000 is units of Heparin in the 500ml of D5W,so all you have to do is divide 5000/500 and you get 10u per ml. You need to give 800u in 1 hr which will be in 80ml of solution. So to get cc(ml)/min;

80ml X 1hr = 80 = 1.33cc/min

1hr.... 60min. 60

I don't mind at all; if there is anything that I can help you with in particular just let me know and I will gladly help you.

EnviroVeg

10 Posts

A useful tutorial for learning about and practicing dosage calculations:

http://www.dosagehelp.com/

EnviroVeg said:
A useful tutorial for learning about and practicing dosage calculations:

http://www.dosagehelp.com/

Thank you for the tip on the dosage calculation tutorial; I have a dosage calc. exam coming up soon; and this website has a lot of useful practice questions.

cperg51018

7 Posts

1. A Phsycian orders an IV of D5W to run @ 100mlls

The drop factor is 10gtt/ml

What is the flow rate??

2. Tetracycline is prepared in 50ml of an IV solution it is infusing @ 30gtts/min.

The drop factor of the infusion set is 20gtts/ml. What is the infusion time?/:w00t:

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