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Discussion

!!!!!!HOMEWORK HELPPPP!!!!!!

Hi All! Hope everyone is having a great day!. I've run into a pickle. Im currently studying for my med Admin class test and i have run into this one problem that has completely left me baffled. Im looking for an explanation of how to do it so please don't just upload answers without any explanation. My professor uses the proportional method so all whom are familiar with that please come forth!! Sorry for any grammatical errors as I'm rushing to type this. We are studying intravenous dosage. The problem is below:

The physician ordered 35 mEq of potassium to be added to an intravenous infusion of 1000 mL of D5/W and run for 24 hours. The vial of potassium is labeled 40 mEq = 10 mL. The IV tubing calibration is 10gtts/mL

1. How minimal of potassium should be added to the 1000 mL of D5/W

2. The hourly rate of absorption should be:

(For this answer i got 42 mL/Hr by doing 1000ml/24hrs = xml/1hr and cross multiplying, i used the drip rate formula)

3. How many gtt/min should infuse to deliver the required amount in 24hrs?

*The mEq is really confusing me in this problem, i know it means milliequivalent but i don't understand if i need to convert it or if anything needs to be done with this at all.

Much Thanks to all who help!! I'm hoping to get a 100% on this exam!! XOXO :)

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    If you take a deep breath, things will probably start to fall into place. The "trick" with using the proportional method (which I think is usually the best method for real-life situations) is that you don't try to solve everything in one equation. You break it down and do one step at a time.

    1. If there are 40 mEq in 10 ml ... then how many ml's would contain 35 mEq? That's a simple equation. 40 mEq/10 ml = 35 mEq/x ml

    2. Your logic for calculating how many ml/hr seems right to me, but I didn't double-check the calculation.

    3. To calculate how many drops per hour ... simply calculate how many drops would be equal to the 42 mls/hour.

    Does that make sense?

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    • Author

    Hi! Thank you so much!! The first i understand so much better now. It can get a bit overwhelming!! But I'm a bit confused on the 3rd response. Can you go into more detail .

    I set it up as 42ml * 10 / 24(60min). I'm pretty sure this isn't correct though. Please help!! Thankss

  • Quote

    You had the right idea for your equation, but to find your gtts/min you want to use the total to be infused and the total time of the infusion, not the calculated mL/hr. The way you set it up, you were infusing the amount for 1 hour (42 mL) over 24 hours.

    The formula for gtt/min is

    total MLs to by infused * drip factor of the tubing/time in minutes of infusion

    so (this is not from your problem, it is just an example), if you had 1000mL to be infused, a drip factor of 15 gtts/min, and it needs to be infused over 8 hours your equation would be

    1000mL * 15gtts/min

    ------------------------ = 21 gtts/min

    480 mins

    The exact answer was 20.83, but you round the answer to the nearest whole number...it is hard to measure 0.83 of a drop :)

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    • Author

    Hi Thanks so much!! So sorry for the delayed response!! i just had my test on Tuesday and got an A. Thanks so much for your help! i really appreciate it! :)

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