Help walk me through this med math problem?

I'm confused as to where to even start to set this up! I don't think I understand how to set it up after the medication is diluted with the sterile water. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

A client who underwent cardiac surgery has been prescribed morphine sulfate 2 mg IV for pain. The morphine sulfate is packaged as 2 mg/ml. The nurse dilutes the medication in 4 ml of sterile water and prepares to administer the mediation over 5 minutes. If the nurse administers 1 ml of fluid every minute, how many milligrams of morphine will be administered per minute? Record your answer using one decimal point.

1 Answer

the morphine is packaged as 2mg in 1 mL and you add another 4 mL of solution for a total of 2mg of morphine now in 5 mL.

Figure out how many mg of morphine are now in each mL.

If you are pushing 5 mL over a 5 minute period it stands to reason that you are giving 1 mL per minute.

since you figured out how many mg of morphine are in each 1 mL and you know that you are giving 1 mL per 1 minute - you now know how many mg of morphine you are giving per minute.

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