Question

a primary health care provider prescribes acetaminophen 320 mg PO every 6 hours prn for pain for a 12 year old child. the child has difficulty swallowing pills, and the nurse obtains a liquid form of the drug. the bottle of acetaminophen states that there are 160 mg/5 mL. how much solution of acetaminophen should be administered?

Answer 1

To administer the prescribed dose of acetaminophen to the child, 10 mL of the liquid solution should be administered.

Step-by-step explanation:

In this case, the primary health care provider has prescribed acetaminophen 320 mg PO every 6 hours prn for pain for a 12-year-old child. However, the child has difficulty swallowing pills, so the nurse obtains a liquid form of the drug. The bottle of acetaminophen states that there are 160 mg/5 mL. To calculate how much solution of acetaminophen should be administered, we can use a ratio.

According to the bottle, there are 160 mg of acetaminophen in every 5 mL of solution. Therefore, to determine how much solution we should administer, we can set up a proportion:

160 mg / 5 mL = 320 mg / x mL

By cross-multiplying and solving for x, we find that x = (320 mg * 5 mL) / 160 mg = 10 mL.