Question

The health care provider has prescribed oral diazepam 50 mg once daily. The drug is available as oral suspension with a strength of 25 mg/5 ml. How many milliliters should the nurse administer?

Answer 1

To administer a 50 mg dose of diazepam from a 25 mg/5 ml suspension, the nurse should administer 10 ml of the suspension.

Step-by-step explanation:

The health care provider has prescribed oral diazepam 50 mg once daily. The drug is available as oral suspension with a strength of 25 mg/5 ml. To determine how many milliliters the nurse should administer, we can set up a proportion where the amount of drug prescribed is in proportion to the strength available.

Thus, we can use the formula:

Dose ordered / Strength available = Volume to administer / Volume of strength available

Substituting the known values:

50 mg / 25 mg = Volume to administer / 5 ml

By cross-multiplication, we have:

Volume to administer = (50 mg × 5 ml) / 25 mg = 10 ml

The nurse should administer 10 ml of the oral suspension to provide the prescribed dose of diazepam.