MD order: 250 mg of a medication in 500 mL D5W Instructions : Infuse medication at 10mcg / kg / min Drop factor : 15gtts / mL
Client's weight : 140
Calculate the flow rate. Show all work using dimensional analysis
To calculate the flow rate, we need to find the total dose of the medication and divide it by the infusion time.
Step 1: Convert the weight to kg
140 lbs = 140/2.2 kg ≈ 63.64 kg (rounded to two decimal places)
Step 2: Calculate the total dose of the medication
Total dose = 10 mcg/kg/min × 63.64 kg × 60 min
Total dose = 10 × 63.64 × 60 mcg
Total dose = 38184 mcg
Step 3: Convert the total dose to mg
1 mg = 1000 mcg
Total dose = 38184 mcg ÷ 1000 = 38.184 mg
Step 4: Calculate the flow rate using the formula:
Flow rate (gtts/min) = (Total dose × Drop factor) ÷ Volume (mL)
Flow rate = (38.184 mg × 15 gtts/mL) ÷ 500 mL
Flow rate = 572.76 gtts ÷ 500 mL
Flow rate = 1.14552 gtts/mL
The flow rate is approximately 1.15 gtts/min.
To calculate the flow rate, we will follow these steps:
Step 1: Calculate the desired dose per minute.
Given: MD Order: 250 mg, Drop factor: 15gtts/mL
Since the medication should be infused at a rate of 10 mcg/kg/min, we need to convert the 250 mg to mcg.
1 mg = 1000 mcg
250 mg = 250,000 mcg
Step 2: Calculate the total dose required.
Given: Client's weight: 140 kg
The desired dose per minute is 10 mcg/kg/min, so we need to multiply it by the client's weight to get the total dose per minute.
10 mcg/kg/min * 140 kg = 1400 mcg/min
Step 3: Calculate the total volume per minute.
Given: Volume: 500 mL
Since the medication is to be infused in 500 mL of D5W, the total volume per minute is equal to the volume given.
500 mL/min
Step 4: Calculate the flow rate.
To calculate the flow rate, we need to divide the total volume per minute by the drop factor.
Flow rate = Total volume per minute / Drop factor
Flow rate = 500 mL/min / 15 gtt/mL
Now let's perform the calculations:
250,000 mcg / 1400 mcg/min = 178.5714 min
500 mL/min / 15 gtt/mL = 33.3333 gtt/min
Therefore, the flow rate will be approximately 33.33 gtt/min.