homework help

[Awesomejessica89]

i got this problem wrong but don't know why

The medication order is to administer potassium chloride 15 mEq in 150 mL of D5W to infuse over 2 hours. The nurse has available potassium chloride 40 mEq/20 mL. What is the electronic infusion device rate per hour? (Round to the nearest whole number.)

the answer is 79, how do you solve for this? because i keep trying and i can't figure out how they got it..

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

There is more info in the question than needed, which might be confusing you. To get the answer, look at the amount you want to infuse, 150 mls, and the time, 2 hours.Does that help?

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

dosagehelp.com - helping nursing students learn dosage calculations

and

[color=#1122cc]drug dose calculations - dave's ems history are great sites

normally this would be a two step problem...... first you need to identify how many cc's it takes to give you 15 meq of potassium

desired dose x volume on hand

dose on hand

15meq x 20ml

40 meq

equals........... but the question doesn't ask this it just asks what do you set the pump at to get 150ml in 2 hours.

volume to be infused x drip rate

infusion time in min x 1ml

if your drip rate is 60 then

150ml x 60 gtt/min

2 hours (120 min)x ml

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

I see what they are doing to get the answer of 79, but honestly I think the question is written in a misleading way.

The first part says that you have 15mEqs of KCl in 150mLs

But the volume you have available is 40 mEqs in 20mLs.

So in order to get the answer of 79, the question is asking you to calculate the amount the potassium you need to draw up, and then ADD that volume to the bag of 150 mLs.

Using your formula: Desire dose/Dose on hand x available volume you would find: 15mEqs/40mEqs x 20 mLs = 7.5 mLs

Add that to the bag of 150 mLs and you get 157.5 mLs

You need to give that volume in two hours. So in order to get your rate in mLs/hr, simply divide your volume by 2.

157.5 / 2 = 78.75 (rounded to the nearest whole number is 79 mLs/hr)

________

The question should say something like: "The order is to administer 15 mEqs of KCl over two hours. You have available 40 mEqs in 20 mLs. What would be the rate on the electronic pump if you mixed the potassium with 150mLs of D5W before administration?

The way the question is written right now makes it sound like all you need to know is that there is 15 mEqs in 150 mLs. It sounds like you are giving 150 mLs. If I were answering the question, I'd say the answer was 75 mL/hr (150mL/2hrs). But if you say the answer is 79 mLs, then clearly the question is asking something else.