Patient weighs 170 pounds who requires a dopamine drip. Need calculation help!

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I have this due on Tuesday which is my first day back. I feel as though I have forgotten all of my calculations. Here is the problem and how I did it. Please tell me if I did it correct or where I went wrong.

Pt. weighs 170 pounds who requires a dopamine drip for a failing kidney. Protocol dictates that you start the drip at 5mcg/kg/min. You want to mix a drip that contains 400 mg of dopamine in your 250 ml bag of normal saline. How many ml/hr will you infuse?

170/2.2=77.27=77.3 kg

77.3 kg* 5mcg/min*60 min= 23190mcg/min=.057 round to .1*250ml=25ml/hr

400000mcg 400000 mcg

Not sure if I did any of this correct. Help.

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Specializes in MICU.

The answer is 14.5ml/hr

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Specializes in MICU.

How did you get 0.57

And again why did you round 0.057 to 0.1

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Specializes in MICU.

Ok here is how I did mine

(5mcg/kg/min)×(250ml/400000mcg)×(60min/hr)×(77.3kg)=14.5ml/hr

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That was my original answer. I originally converted the 23190 mcg to mg then divided that by 400mg then multiply by 250ml

23.19*250ml=14.49=14.5

400

Is that the correct way?

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I did not come out with 0.057. I did 23190

400000

I converted the 400mg to mcg. Not sure why.

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Specializes in MICU.

Always check your unit whenever you are doing dosage math. Also do you know how to use dimensional analysis

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Specializes in MICU.

And your answer is correct

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Specializes in MICU.

Yes you suppose to convert 400 mcg to mg to track your unit

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It was 400 mg to mcg. By the way, I hate dimensional analysis. Just do.

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Specializes in MICU.

Lol just make sure you know what you are doing. Just stick with the method that works for you

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Thanks so much for your help.

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