was this Vanco dose a little high?

[LPN2RNdude]

Hello, everyone. I have a question concerning a dose of IV Vanco I hung yesterday morning on one of my patients.....

She was a 76 yr old white female with possible cellulitis of the left foot. Her weight was 179 lbs, around 5'6 tall, and kidney functions were all normal. The pharmacist set her initial dose at 1250 mg IV to run over one hour. I was just wondering if this dose might have been a little excessive, as I'm used to seeing doses in the 750-1000 mg range. I called the pharmacist back just to double-check the dose, and he said that was the dose set for the cellulitis protocal.... any feedback would be much appreciated...thnx

[Nurseboy1]

The dosing of vancomycin is varied based on the individual patient. I usually see it dosed based on the patient's height/weight and their kidney function. As for the dose, I commonly give 1gm, 1.25gm, and 1.5gm doses. However I work with a population that is commonly and often chronically infected with MRSA.

I also see the doses more spaced out when they are larger such as 1.5gm q12hr as opposed to 1gm q8hrs.

Hope this helps.

[LPN2RNdude]

thnx, yeah that did help. it was her initial dose, and she is due a random vanco level in 3 days, so yeah, i guess they will taper her dose according to her labs and level. thanks a lot for the reply....

[dianacs]

She was a 76 yr old white male

Now that's interesting! LOL

[NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN]

I've frequently given 2g every 12 hours for many of our infected patients. We usually don't run it as as fast though. It's usually run over 2-2.5 hours.

[LPN2RNdude]

OMG!!! lol u caught me.... trying to protect pt privacy.. LOL the gender of the patient,,,, i'll never tell..... good catch:chuckle