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Discussion

Need help with a dosage problem?

A nurse has an order to start magnesium sulfate on a preterm labor client. The order reads: Give a 4-g bolus over 15 minutes, then decrease the rate to 2g/hour. The nurse has 50 g of magnesium sulfate mixed in 1000 mL of lactated Ringer's on hand. What is the rate the nurse will set the pump rate to deliver the 2-g maintenance dose? Record your answer using a whole number.

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    • Solved by AlmostANurse321

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    • Admin

    Plutonium, you do realize that you've taken so many extra unnecessary steps here right? The simplest way to do this is either the D/H x V or figuring out how many mg/mL. Wether you have 50g in 1L or 46g in 920mL, the concentration is the same. Why take more steps to get an answer when there's a quicker way?

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    40ml?
    40mL is not correct. 40 mL is a volume, not a rate. 40mL/hr is correct.

    It's not semantics.

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    I did it in my head thusly...

    50g in 1000mL = 5g in 100mL = 1g in 20mL = 2g in 40mL

    40mL over 1hr = 40mL/hr

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    40mL is not correct. 40 mL is a volume, not a rate. 40mL/hr is correct.

    It's not semantics.

    I was not putting the answer to satisfy your idea of correctness. I was just helping nudge in the right direction.

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    Hahaha. Rose Queen. I actually spelled it out in detail so it seems long, but in actuality all I did was volume over what the dose you have on hand, times the desired dose. Super simple. I literally did it in my head. I can definitely see how it looks like it would be long though. Just trying to explain it in detail for someone who may be like me, or learn the way I learn, and need/want to know the exact way to solve something. Before someone explained it to me in detail like this, it just really didn't fully make sense to me. I'm slightly OCD when it comes to certain things like this though, and I need to know the why of things sometimes. Once I learned Med math in detail like this, and realized just how simple it is, I have been able to solve most Med math problems in my head. Although, again, I'm slightly OCD when it comes to certain things so I will still most times wrote them out.

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    But yes, if you noticed at the bottom of my post the equation is just V/H x D. Which is literally equivalent to D/H x V. Just the way I learned. Same basic equation, some people just learn differently. And again, all the other stuff is just details. Just in case either the OP, or someone else that might be out there that learns the way I do.

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    • Solution

    Dose Ordered (2,000 mg) X (Volume 1,000 ML)

    ____________________

    Dose Available (50,000 mg)

    That gives you the correct answer, but you have to tack on hours. It works because we just need to know how much to give, we already know the time. That's technically correct, but since we're assuming the /hr part it's not the "mathematically" correct way to express it.

    ml 1,000 ml 2,000 mg

    --- = ---------- x -----------

    hr 50,000 mg 1 hr

    Both get you 40ml/hr, but the second method is more mathematically correct. However it doesn't matter, just remember to correctly express the answer in ml/hr.

    I'm ironically terrible at math competencies, but here I am explaining factor analysis :)

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