Math Problem can you please help me with this set up

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The nurse dilutes a 2g vial with 3ml to yield 3.2ml

How many ml should the nurse administer if the physician orders 550mg IM?

Thank you in advance :nuke:

Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.
The nurse dilutes a 2g vial with 3ml to yield 3.2ml

How many ml should the nurse administer if the physician orders 550mg IM?

Thank you in advance :nuke:

2000mg/3.2 mL = 55omg/X

1760 = 2000x

1760/2000 = x

x=.88 mL

Thank you, but is the 2000mg from?

Thank you, but is the 2000mg from?

you have to convert 2 grams to milligrams

1 gram = 1000 mg

The nurse dilutes a 2g vial with 3ml to yield 3.2ml

How many ml should the nurse administer if the physician orders 550mg IM?

550mg/2000mg = x/3ml

answer should be 0.83 ml

divide by 3ml not 3.2ml

The nurse dilutes a 2g vial with 3ml to yield 3.2ml

How many ml should the nurse administer if the physician orders 550mg IM?

550mg/2000mg = x/3ml

answer should be 0.83 ml

divide by 3ml not 3.2ml

why? it would seem you would be under dosing, if you did that...

Once reconstituted the vial will contain 2g/3.2mL or 2000mg/3.2mL

You wouldn't divide by 3mL because the bottle now contains 3.2mL.

Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.
Onces reconstituted the vial will contain 2g/3.2mL or 2000mg/3.2mL

You wouldn't divide by 3mL because the bottle now contains 3.2mL.

Exactly right.

Once reconstituted with 3mL of anything, the vial now contains 2000mg [2g] of that substance intermixed with the 3 mL, making the total liquid 3.2mL (what was originally in that vial happened to be 2mL of something which equalled 2g).

So that 2g that was originally in the problem has nothing to do with actually solving it it just so happened to be 2g's. I am getting this right? I do not really understand then where you would get the 2 to multiply to get 2000.

Thank you for all your answers.

Specializes in Critical Care.
So that 2g that was originally in the problem has nothing to do with actually solving it it just so happened to be 2g's. I am getting this right? I do not really understand then where you would get the 2 to multiply to get 2000.

Thank you for all your answers.

2 grams = 2000 milligrams. I don't understand the confusion, here.

The 2g in the problem is very important and very needed to solve it. The reason the 2g went to 2000mg is because the doctor ordered 550mg. You couldn't solve the problem unless you converted the 2g to mg.

The way to get from 2g to mg is that you have to know exactly how many mg's are in a g. It happens to be that there are 1000mg in a g. So if you have 2g you have 2000mg.

2 x 1000= 2000

thats where the 2 is coming from.

Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.
So that 2g that was originally in the problem has nothing to do with actually solving it it just so happened to be 2g's. I am getting this right? I do not really understand then where you would get the 2 to multiply to get 2000.

Thank you for all your answers.

Not really. The 2 grams is important, it just has to be converted into milligrams-that's where the 2000 comes from. 2 grams is the same as 2000 milligrams.

Since the doctor ordered 550 milligrams, you need to have the grams converted into milligrams to get the correct answer-that's why I converted the 2 grams into 2000mg right away. Or, you could have converted the 550 mg to .55 grams-but, this would be a more confusing way to do it.

If there is anything that needed to be ignored in the question was the 3mL. Since you were given the final amount of solution (3.2mL) what was being used to dilute the 2000 mg (2g) is unneeded information for solving the problem.

Are you understanding it now? The questions you are being given are purposely putting in unneeded information as a way to train you to focus on the important information.

Remember in the future, ask as many times as you need in order to understaand things, no matter what others may say about you asking a lot of questions.

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