Piperacillin 2 gm IV q6h is ordered. Pharmacy sends a vail of pipercaillin, 1 gm in 5 ml. You are to mix 2 gm in 50 ml of Nacl and run over 30 minutes. You are using a macrodrip set (15 gtts?ml).
A. What drug dose is to be mixed in the Nacl?
B. What is the flow rate?
I did it but I dont think that it is right. I wish I knew how to email someone on here private so I could show you how I worked the problum out. I hate putting it on here for the whole world to see how dumb I am looking.
It is not 60ml/hr. You are giving 60ml over 30 min so that equals a rate of 120ml over one hour. The drop rate is 15gtts/ml so you multiply 120 by 15. that gives you 600 gtts /hr. Make sense?
It is not 60ml/hr. You are giving 60ml over 30 min so that equals a rate of 120ml over one hour. The drop rate is 15gtts/ml so you multiply 120 by 15. that gives you 600 gtts /hr. Make sense?
I thought we already figured out that it's 60 ml (part a) and the problem asks for gtts/min over 30 min not an hr.
Am I missing something? I have never done a problem where you solve for gtts/hr, it's always ml/hr and gtt/min. That's where I am confused. 600 seems unreasonable to me. But I appreciate you helping me with this conundrum!
You're taking shortcuts with your units and that's a sure path to confusion.
You understand the 60 mL, right? (10 mL for the 2 grams of drug + 50 mL for the NaCl)
For how long are you going to run it? The problem statement say: "30 minutes."
Your flow rate, therefore, is: 60 mL / 30 min = 2 mL/min.
OK, what if you want to know the flow rate per hour?
(60 mL / 30 min) x (60 min / 1 hr) = 120 mL/hr. Does that make sense?
If you want to know the drops per minute, use the drip factor:
(60 mL / 30 min) x (15 gtt / 1 mL) = 30 gtt/min
Aha! Now I get it! Makes perfect sense, I was missing something and that was why I was confused! These problems can be so confusing to the novices, especially those who are not strong in math!
Yeah you are right I should have gone the extra step and figured out how many gtts/min. I am rusty.
Don't feel bad, cuz if you're rusty, I'm clueless! I have a test in late Aug and cuz I am not strong in math, I have been practicing until I have an indention in my fingers! And I thought I had it all figured out. These tests just add more and more steps every semester and if you miss one step it's wrong and it's so easy to do that. I have to get 18/20 to pass and although you get 3 tries, I want to ace it the first time around and concentrate on M/S and not this lousy test. Thanks anyhow!
Don't feel bad, cuz if you're rusty, I'm clueless! I have a test in late Aug and cuz I am not strong in math, I have been practicing until I have an indention in my fingers! And I thought I had it all figured out. These tests just add more and more steps every semester and if you miss one step it's wrong and it's so easy to do that. I have to get 18/20 to pass and although you get 3 tries, I want to ace it the first time around and concentrate on M/S and not this lousy test. Thanks anyhow!
The most valuable piece of advice I can offer is to show ALL of your units ALL of the time. I've tutored a lot of chemistry for the BSN students and this is the root of the majority of their problems.
And never, NEVER, ever skip a step. I'm really good at these things and I still show each and every single step.
I have a math question? I hope someone can help me with this.1gm of a med given over 6hr; have 1gm in 500ml. Drug is to be administer at 10gtt/ml over 30 min.Please help calculate.
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
I have a math question? I hope someone can help me with this.1gm of a med given over 6hr; have 1gm in 500ml. Drug is to be administer at 10gtt/ml over 30 min.Please help calculate.
Something is wrong here.
1 gm of a med given over 6 hours
and
administer 1 gm in 500 mL at 10gtts/mL over 30 min.
loriangel14, RN
6,933 Posts
Yeah don't feel bad, we've all been there. Better to ask and get help.Best of luck.