HOW do i solve this concentration IV infusion problem?

[ajstegall]

Doctor's order: Pronestyl 5 mcg/min

Available: Pronestyl 2 g in 500 mL D5W

a. Concentration of solution _______ mcg/min

b. Infusion rate _____ mL/hr

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

First, the concentration of the solution would not be mcg/min. It would be mcg/mL. So first you need to determine how many mcg are in the 500mL of solution. Then go from there. What do you have so far?

[ajstegall]

ok it was worded wrong then. haha. thank you. ok so far... i am trying this. see if i am setting it up correctly..... 2000 mcg/mL x 500 mL/1 ????? i am using DA

[ajstegall]

and NO. hell no thats not right... i dont understand why this one is tricking me.

[ajstegall]

so 500,000 mcg are in 500 mL??

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Think about how many mcg are in a gram. There are 1000mg in 1g. I think that's what's tripping you up in this step.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I always have to break it into two steps. g/mL x 1000mg/g x 1000mcg/mg. It's not 500,000. See what you get using that formula.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

And to clarify, the g/mL is what you have to work with, in this case 2g per 500mL.

It also helps to think about what units you need to end up with. In your first setup of the equation, you have mL canceling out. You do need to keep the mL part for a concentration.

[ajstegall]

ok thanks a lot for your time and help. i think i can solve it now.