Drug Calculation

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hi I have this assignment and there are a couple of questions I just don't understand. For example it will say give cephalothin IV 1 g. In stock is 1g. But it says do a drug calculation. But i'm confused since you just add 10 mls of water to reconstitute it and put it in the IV bag or IV bolus. What drug calculation do I need to do and how do I do it. Thanks

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Sometimes the answers really are that easy.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

What exactly is the question are they looking for infusion rate?

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I have no idea just says drug calculation

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I have no idea.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Then what is your question?

Based on your information, the question looks pretty clear...

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Specializes in Med Surg.

Transcribe the problem exactly.

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If it says give one gram, there's one gram in it no matter how you reconstitute it. If you're giving it orally/tube feed, that's the dose. If it's IV then you'd put it in a little baggie of (probably) NS, and then you'd figure out how fast to run it. So if it's the one gram in, say, 100cc, to go in over an hour, you'd run it at 100cc/hour. If you have to run it in over a 1/2 hour, you'd run it at 200cc/hr (but only for the half hour = 100cc). If you were to run it in over 15 minute, 400cc/hour (but only for the 1/4 hour = 100cc).

But you haven't told us what the real problem is, so there is no answer.

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You have pretty much answered your own question. If you are reconstituting it with 10ml and adding it to NS or LR then if it's 1000ml bag ran over 8 hrs the rate is 125ml/hr if it's in 500ml over 8hrs then it's 63ml/hr. If it's in an IVPB of 50ml ran over 30 mins then it would be 100ml/hr. Please correct my math if I'm wrong guys.

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It already says how many mls/h to run it over. That is why I am confused. All it says is calculate the drug calculation and thats it.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
It already says how many mls/h to run it over. That is why I am confused. All it says is calculate the drug calculation and thats it.

Per your OP, you don't have the complete problem; you only state what is on hand, the reconstitution (which has no bearing on the problem, btw) and there is no other information.

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They have to tell you how much total volume the drug is in and how fast to give it to allow you to calculate how many cc/hour or per minute, or any of a host of other things. There's critical information missing.

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