OB Case Study Help...

Published

I am stuck on a case study question in regards to Pregnancy induced hypertension and preeclampsia. The physician has ordered Penicillin 5 million units in 100cc of normal saline and then Penicillin 2.5 million units every 4 hours.

The question:

What should be the infusion time for the Penicillin and what should be the drip rate with 60 ggt tubing?

I am confused about whether the orders are a bolus dose and is the 2.5 million units in 100c or 50cc.

This is just a generally confusion medication question..

Any help would be appreciated :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, OB/GYN, Informatics, Simulation.

This question is a great example of distractions in a problem. Ignore the amount for the penicillin because the question isn't asking for them.

drip rate = gtts= 60 gtts * 100 mL* 1 hour = 2.5 gtts/min

min 1mL 4 hours 60 minutes

I'm not sure what they're looking for for the infusion time, if you're not using an IV pump (which the question is suggesting) you typically use a calibration rate. I tried calculating it out but got nearly 40 hours, it's a little unclear whether the penicillin in the NS is also running at 4 hours, or if your simply just administering another another pill after 4 hours. Best of luck to you though, Im sure your teacher should show you how she/he came up with the answer.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, Mother-Baby and SCN.

When the order is just written as Penicillin, does it mean Penicillin G? I am not sure, as on our unit it is written specifically, and as I researched to answer this question I could not find any definitive answer for some reason...

Anyway, if so... I gave Penicillin G yesterday, which was able to be given over 15-60 minutes piggyback. My preceptor decided we would go with 30 minutes (you would take patient characteristics into consideration here). The 2.5 million units would also be in a 100 bag if I recall correctly. I am quite sure it said

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion