Hi, I am a Junior BSN student looking for assistance in some med calc questions for a test coming up in a few months. I have the answers, however there is no explanation of how one gets the answers. Hopefully someone will be able to walk me through it so I will be able to do it and others similar on my own. Here are the 4 questions below.
1) An IV solutions contains 80 mEq of KCl in 1 L of solution. When 800 mL of solution remains to be given, the patient will have received how much KCl? ____ (The answer it says is 16, but I do not know how to figure it out)
2) A 50 mL bag of IV solution contains 1.5 millions units of ampicillin and is to be infused over 20 minutes. The IV tubing drop factor is 15/gtt/ML When the IV has infused at the correct rate for 12 minutes, the patient will have received how much ampicillin? _____ (The answer is 900,000, again I cant get to this answer)
3) An IV solution contains 2 million units of ampicillin in 50 mL. When 30 mL of the IV solution has infused, the patient will have received how much ampicillin? ___ (the answer is 1.2 million)
4) An IV solution of 1 L D5W contains 40 mEq KCl. When 700 mL of IV solution remains to be given, the patient will have recieved how much KCl? ____ (the answer is 12 mEq)
Any information would be greatly appreciated. Again, I have the answers and is looking for more of a guide on to how the answers were gotten so that I am able to perform these questions myself, and others like it.
We are happy to help but we ask ALL students show their work first so that we can best help you find where you are going wrong. As a junior in a BSN program....you should have the skills in place to at least tell us your thought process.
In my posting I said before I began I did not want the answer, I had the answer, I was looking for someone to help me get through the problem. I broke down my thought process to Rose_Queen. I understand what is expected of me being a Junior in a BSN Program. Thats why I made a point to mention I didnt need to be shown just an answer. Rather understanding my thought process so I could figure out what I was doing wrong. Rose_Queen did just that, when I took out the non-
When you said was it pertinent, I thought you meant to solving the equation itself. Not the overall question. When solving the question I did not have to use the (50 mL) bag to figure it out. I do apologize and understand what you mean. Again, thank you.
Break it down...you need to know the rate, which they actually give you. You know how many TOTAL units per TOTAL min is infused, so you can just break it down per min.
Need: units per 12 min
Given: 1,500,000 units/20 min
1,500,000 units/20 min=75,000 PER minute
75,000/min x 12 min=?
with many problems just step back a second and see if figuring out the rate is all that is needed. Just because they give you data like drip rate doesn't mean you need to use it.
Actually, the 50mL bag is very important. That tells you the total volume being infused over 20 minutes. The part you don't need is the drip rate factor of the IV tubing.
The size of the bag is irrelevant in this question. If the bag was 1000 ml and contained 1,500,000 units. The answer would be the same because you are infusing the entire bag in 20 min. Regardless of the size of the bag, you are still infusing the 1,500,000 units.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Guy in Babyland, I probably added extra steps. I was taught one way where you figure out volume infused and use thy number to calculate the units. Hard to break old habits, even when others show faster ways of doing the calculations.
2) A 50 mL bag of IV solution contains 1.5 millions units of ampicillin and is to be infused over 20 minutes. The IV tubing drop factor is 15/gtt/ML When the IV has infused at the correct rate for 12 minutes, the patient will have received how much ampicillin? _____ (The answer is 900,000, again I cant get to this answer)
The easiest way to solve this type of problem is to determine what percentage of the infusion has completed and determine how much medication is that percentage of the total.
12 minutes out of 20 minutes is 60% complete
60% of 1.5M is 900k
This can be done in your head in no time at all...
xnursingstu1995
8 Posts
In my posting I said before I began I did not want the answer, I had the answer, I was looking for someone to help me get through the problem. I broke down my thought process to Rose_Queen. I understand what is expected of me being a Junior in a BSN Program. Thats why I made a point to mention I didnt need to be shown just an answer. Rather understanding my thought process so I could figure out what I was doing wrong. Rose_Queen did just that, when I took out the non-