Dosage Problem.. !

[shannonFNP, BSN, MSN, RN]

hi all, thanks for reading :) i have this dosing calc problem that i honestly don't think can be solved. we have to make a 90% on our dosage test to stay in the program. well, we took our first test (we can retake once) and i made an 85%.... because i left my calculator at home :'(!!!! and i checked over my problems... set up right, multiplied manually wrong. anyways, so i'm practicing and practicing, even though i know how to do these, and this one just has me stumped:

"dr's order: erythromycin (ilosone) 2.5 tsp po q6h."

label shows: 250mg per 5ml

how many mls should the nurse administer?

correct me if i'm wrong, but i use da to solve my problems, and i just can't find a way to cross out mgs... and there's no way to convert solids to liquid. i just don't get this question and i've typed it up exactly as it appears. thanks!

[oMerMero]

start with how many mls are in a tsp?

[morte, LPN, LVN]

i dont understand what solid to liquid issue you have......both the dose and the requested answer are in liquid form.......teaspoons and mililitres, so how many mls in a teaspoon?

[TruDivaRN, BSN, RN]

The answer should be 12.5ml. What I did was 5ml=1tsp,xml-2.5tsp=12.5ml. Thats how many ml the nurse should give. The other stuff was just to throw you off. Can you tell me if I'm right??

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

"dr's order: erythromycin (ilosone) 2.5 tsp po q6h."

label shows: 250mg per 5ml

how many mls should the nurse administer?

2.5 teaspoons/1

(dose desired)

x 5 ml/1 teaspoon

(conversion factor) =

12.5 ml

(amount to give)

[shannonFNP, BSN, MSN, RN]

Maybe if yall set it up in dimensional analysis... because you have to make sure that your mg cross out with something else. The first part of showing your work would read:

5 ml

250 mg

Since your answer has to be in ml, the only thing to cross out is mg. There's not a conversion for mg though.. so how are you crossing it out?

[oMerMero]

In order to answer the question you do not need to mg information. I think you are making the problem more difficult than it is. The question is asking you to convert 2.5tsp to mls.

If you want to take it a step further you can figure out how many mg are going to be given with the number of mls that need to be given.

[gymrat33, LPN]

12.5ml

1tsp = 5ml

It's asking how many ml to give. You just figure out how many tsp are in 5ml which is 1.

2.5tsp times 5ml = 12.5ml

[gymrat33, LPN]

yea that's right...you just convert ml to tsp.

[shannonFNP, BSN, MSN, RN]

Thanks, I realize how everyone got the answer as 12.5. We're just trained to set up the problem ONLY one way which is by taking the label ml on top (or capsule/tablet... whichever form it's in) as the numerator, and the mg as a denomenator. So I was trying to figure it out that way. This is the only question out of about a 100 that she gave that I guess is set up completely different.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Thanks, I realize how everyone got the answer as 12.5. We're just trained to set up the problem ONLY one way which is by taking the label ml on top (or capsule/tablet... whichever form it's in) as the numerator, and the mg as a denomenator. So I was trying to figure it out that way. This is the only question out of about a 100 that she gave that I guess is set up completely different.

you need to open you mind, you are being asked to solve for ml not mg, which is what you would usually be asked to find...reread Daytonites post. as a side note, i dont like the order at all, and would like to see the med ordered in mg, in case the liquid comes in different strengths....