Medication question

[Peaceem]

Here's the question:

It was a pediatric dose of an antibiotic, came in a concentration of 100mg/1mL, pt. needed 500mg so it came in a syringe of 5mL..... therefore 500mg/5mL

I looked up on Lexicomp peds administration and to be given IV it had to e diluted to a concentration of 20mg/1mL.

How much NS would you add to the syringe? And how did you get this?

I was in clinical and my instructor did it differently and I do not understand how she got that answer because I got a different one. I'm curious to see what others do without me telling what I did first.

[mrsboots87]

This is simple math. Set up the problem and let us know what you got. You would need a large syringe to fit all the diluent in with the med. But if you look at it, you should be able to do this in your head.

if you just do basic math without any equation set up

100mg/ml for total of 500mg/5ml but you need 20mg/ml

100/20=5. So you would need 100mg/5mL then multiply by 5 to get 500mg/25mL

You have 500mg already but only in 5ml so you need to add 20mL of diluent to get to 25ml total.

[mrsboots87]

And I did the work for you because it was so simple. In most cases, when you have a math problem, people here will require you show your work first. You learn nothing if the work and answer are just given to you.

[Peaceem]

I know how to do the math, that's what I got my instructor however insisted you add 5mL, which would give you a concentration of 50mg/mL.

[mrsboots87]

Then quite simply, your instructor was wrong. Either that or there was a misread of the dilution requirement of the med by either you or your instructor. Either way, if you pleaded your case and showed the instructor your math, and they insisted on only adding 5mL of diluent, based on what you said about the dilution requirements, the instructor is wrong and thats on them.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

To show your instructor that she got the wrong answer, just put 500mg/25ml and 500mg/10ml side by side on a piece of paper and have her do the math.

Please tell me that the med was administered in the correct concentration.