Pediatric Dosage Calculation Question

[crissik]

Please calculate this for me:

Child weighs 28lb and you need to administer medication 75mg/kg/day.

I figured it out but the answer came up 952.5.

So would the answer be 952? 952.5 or 953.

I was not sure if I should round with children?

Thank YOu

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

In peds, you would never round up from 952 to 1000, that is my point. Even sometimes that small amount can make the difference in a peds population.

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

I think most are over thinking this. I think the point of the problem is to practice the math, not so much about the specifics of how the dose is administered (though that too is important to know, but for the purpose of dosage calcs, its to practice the math). I think the best piece of advice is to ask the professor/teacher what they'd like the answer to be rounded to.

[Music in My Heart]

you have a 1.5kg baby and you have to give .15mg of morpine. comes in a 1mg/ml solution, you will give 0.15ml. if you round that up to 0.2 there is the possibility that that kid is going to go apneic on you. might not seem like a lot, but to someone that is small it is.

exactly... two significant figures in the given data, two significant figures in the calculated answer.