Question

A child is prescribed an insulin infusion at 0.1 unit per kg per hour you have a syringe of insulin containing 50 units in 50 ml of sodium chloride 0.9% what rate is the infusion to be set at in ml per hour

Answer 1

To determine the correct infusion rate in ml per hour for an insulin prescription of 0.1 unit per kg per hour with a syringe containing 50 units in 50 ml, a proportion based on the child's weight in kg is used to calculate the necessary infusion rate.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks for the calculation of the infusion rate in ml per hour for a prescribed insulin dosage based on body weight. With an insulin concentration of 50 units in 50 ml of sodium chloride 0.9%, and a prescribed infusion rate of 0.1 unit per kg per hour, we can use a simple proportion to find the infusion rate in ml per hour.

To calculate the infusion rate:

1. Determine the prescribed units of insulin per hour for the child. If the child's weight is 'x' kg, the dosage would be 0.1 unit/kg/hour x x kg = 0.1x units/hour.
2. Since 1 ml of the solution contains 1 unit of insulin (because 50 units are in 50 ml), the child needs 0.1x ml of the solution per hour to get 0.1x units of insulin.
3. Therefore, the infusion pump should be set to 0.1x ml/hour to deliver the correct dose.