Question

FR is a 39-year-old male admitted to the hospital for treatment of dehydration and Crohn's disease.

Medications D51/2NS at 100 ml/hr x 2 liters, then reduce rate to 60 ml/hr and run continuously
Methylprednisolone 40 mg IV Q12H
Diovan 160 mg PO daily
Entocort EC 6 mg PO daily
Potassium chloride 24 mEq PO daily
The pharmacist has 600 mg Micro-k capsules available. How many capsules should FR take daily? (MW KCI = 74.5) (Answer must be numeric; no units or commas; round the final answer to the nearest WHOLE number)

Answer 1

To deliver the prescribed 24 mEq of potassium chloride, which converts to 937.4 mg of potassium, the patient would need to take approximately 2.98, or rounded up, 3 capsules of 600 mg Micro-k daily.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question requires us to calculate how many 600 mg Micro-k capsules the patient should take daily to meet the requirement of 24 mEq of potassium chloride (KCl). The molecular weight (MW) of KCl is provided as 74.5 g/mol. First, we need to convert mEq to mg:

• 1 mEq of K+ corresponds to the atomic weight of K (approximately 39.1 g/mol), hence 1 mEq of K+ is 39.1 mg.
• Since the prescription is for 24 mEq of potassium, this translates to 24 mEq x 39.1 mg/mEq = 937.4 mg of K+.

As potassium chloride, since KCl contains one potassium ion (K+) for every chloride ion (Cl-), we just scale by the ratio of the weights of K to KCl to find the required KCl:

• 937.4 mg (K) x (74.5 g/mol KCl / 39.1 g/mol K) = 1788.63 mg of KCl.

Finally, to find out the number of 600 mg Micro-k capsules needed:

• 1788.63 mg KCl / 600 mg/capsule = 2.98, which we round up to 3 capsules per day.