HELP! IV push calculation

Well, I doubt that you're a "dummy," but here is how I do it:

You're starting with 5 mg of Versed in 1 ml of solution and you want 1 mg of Versed. 1 ml of solution divided by 5 (mg) is 0.2 ml -- so 1 mg of Versed = 0.2 ml

You want to dilute that 1 mg of Versed to 0.25 mg/ml -- that means you want 4 ml, total, of diluted solution (each containing 0.25 mg of the Versed). You're starting with 0.2 ml of Versed solution, so you need an additional 3.8 ml of NS to make the 4 ml total (3.8 ml + 0.2 ml = 4 ml).

4 ml (total) of solution given over 2 minutes = 2 ml/minute.

I've found over the years that what goes wrong for most students with calculation problems is that they freeze up and panic. Stay calm, don't panic, and just think through what the problem is asking you, step by step -- it's really basic math, just a whole bunch of it put together. :)

Do you mean how did we figure out 4 ml was what we needed, or how do we make the 4 ml of solution that we need?

You have an order for 1 mg of Versed, and the directions for the Versed (in your problem) say to "dilute with normal saline for a total of 0.25 mg per mL." If you have 1 mg of medication and you need to dilute it to 0.25 mg/1 ml solution, how many ml total of solution do you need?

0.25 (mg)/1 (ml) = 1 (mg)/X ( The quick 'n dirty way to do this (if the numbers didn't work out so neatly, you'd have to do the long math) is that 0.25 mg is 1/4 of 1 mg, so that means that 1 ml is 1/4 of the total amount of solution needed -- so 1 ml x 4 = 4 ml)

We are starting with 0.2 ml of the Versed solution (5 mg/1 ml). In order to make the final 0.25 mg/1 ml solution specified in the directions, 4 ml (the final quantity we want) - 0.2 ml (of the Versed) = 3.8 ml (NS needed to dilute to the proper final concentration)

You're v. welcome -- I just hope I didn't get you more confused than you were to begin with!