Question

The nurse is preparing to administer chlorpromazine 0.55 mg/kg PO to an adolescent who weighs 110 lbs. Available is chlorpromazine syrup 10 mg/5 ml. How many should the nurse administer?

a) 22 ml
b) 25 ml
c) 20 ml
d) 18 ml

Answer 1

The nurse should administer 14 ml of chlorpromazine syrup.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many milliliters of chlorpromazine syrup the nurse should administer, we need to first calculate the dose based on the patient's weight. The dosage of chlorpromazine is 0.55 mg/kg. To convert the patient's weight from pounds to kilograms, we divide it by 2.2: 110 lbs ÷ 2.2 = 50 kg. Next, we multiply the patient's weight by the dosage: 50 kg × 0.55 mg/kg = 27.5 mg.

The concentration of the chlorpromazine syrup is 10 mg/5 ml. To find out how many milliliters the nurse should administer, we divide the dose (27.5 mg) by the concentration (10 mg/5 ml): 27.5 mg ÷ (10 mg/5 ml) = 13.75 ml.

Since we cannot administer a fraction of a milliliter, we round up to the nearest whole number. Therefore, the nurse should administer 14 ml of chlorpromazine syrup.