NICU medication calculations?

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Hey guys, I'm taking a test to end orientation for my new job in the NICU and would like someone to explain these practice problems to me just for extra confirmation. Thank you SO much!

1) You have a baby who has a dopamine drip infusing. Immediately after report, you check your drip to verify the correct amount infusing. You have a 30cc syringe and it has 49.5 mg of dopa in it. What IV mcg/kg/min are infusing into your baby?

2) You have a baby who is receiving 0.1 mcg/kg/min of PGE. His IV rate is 2cc/hr. The NNP writes an order to decrease the PGE to 0.05 mcg/kg/hr. How would you do that?

3) Your baby is going to receive Survanta 4 ml/kg. Your baby weighs 0.5 kgs. You will divide this up into 4 doses administered in 4 different positions. How much Survanta will you give in each position?

4) You have an admit who will be started on Gentamicin. The gent dose is 6.25 mg. The vial is 10 mg/ml. How much gent will you administer? What are 2 of the potential toxic side effects of gent?

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Usually, you tell US what you have so far so we can understand what you are having problems with. In other words, we don't do your homework, but are happy to clarify.

And, I think you have copied #2 incorrectly, and in #1 you have omitted the weight of the patient, which is needed or you to find the answer.

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Specializes in NICU.

Yeah, if you're at the *end* of your orientation, these are rally problems that you should be able to solve pretty easily.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

*crickets

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