calculations understanding please

Nurses General Nursing

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1. Order: doxycycline (Vibramycin) 75mg IV Q12 hours. Available: Vibramycin 100mg. Add 8mL of dilutent to equal 10mL. How many mL/hr will you run the medication on the volumetric pump?

I get the 7.5 but my other answer 7.5/12hrs is .625.....

the teacher has 7.5mL and 107.5=108mL/hr

is she wrong ??? I'm coming up clueless... thank you so much...

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Your mg q 12 hrs is correct, but the question is looking for the infusion rate of ml/hr. You aren't going to administer IV antibiotics in a 10 ml syringe--they are added to bags of 50 ml all the way up to 500 ml, usually NS. They are then infused at a rate specified by pharmacy, or by drug reference--give over 30 minutes, 90 minutes, etc.

I am not familiar with Vibramycin so don't know what size bag it is diluted in, or what the standard rate is, but you can find that info by looking it up.

Do that, and you'll get your answer. If you are still stuck, I'll explain what it looks like your instructor did.

so there is really a part of the question missing? as in volume correct?

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Right, unless your instructor's policy is to allow you to use your drug reference, thus expecting that you look up the total diluent and the time over which it's given.

It looks like she added the syringe to a 100 ml bag-- 7.5 ml + 100 ml = 107.5 ml

Then rounded up to 108 ml, programmed 108 ml/hr so that the drug would run over 1 hour

1. Order: doxycycline (Vibramycin) 75mg IV Q12 hours. Available: Vibramycin 100mg. Add 8mL of dilutent to equal 10mL. How many mL/hr will you run the medication on the volumetric pump?

I get the 7.5 but my other answer 7.5/12hrs is .625.....

the teacher has 7.5mL and 107.5=108mL/hr

is she wrong ??? I'm coming up clueless... thank you so much...

Well that depends on how much I dilute it and how fast I run it.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2013/050442s016lbl.pdf

" The duration of infusion may vary with the dose (100 to 200 mg per day), but isusually one to four hours."

"Each 100 mg of Vibramycin (i.e., withdraw entire solution from the 100 mgvial) is further diluted with 100 mL to 1000 mL of the intravenous solutions listed below."

So- the question itself is incomplete.

Your answer does show a misunderstanding of drug orders: This drug is ordered every 12 hrs. You tried to figure out how to administer it over 12 hours. Big difference.

If you were giving a pill every 12 hours, you wouldn't want them trying to spend half a day swallowing it.

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