Question

A 56 -year-old female, weighing 152lb, is receiving a heparin infusion at a rate of 1,500 units/hr. Her aPTL is checked and found to be 90 seconds. According to the institution's heparin nomogram, this means you need to increase the infusion rate by 6 units /kg/hr. What is the new infusion rate in mL/min using a heparin bag containing 25,000 units/250 ml ?

Answer 1

The new heparin infusion rate is calculated to be 1,913.7 units/hr based on the patient's weight and the heparin nomogram, which is equivalent to 0.31895 mL/min when accounting for the concentration of the medication in the IV bag.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject question involves calculating a new heparin infusion rate for a patient based on instructions given in a medical institution's heparin nomogram. The patient weighs 152lb, which is approximately 68.95 kg (since 1 lb equals 0.453592 kg). The nomogram suggests increasing the rate by 6 units/kg/hr, which means an increase of 6 units × 68.95 kg = 413.7 units/hr. So, the new rate would be 1,500 units/hr + 413.7 units/hr = 1,913.7 units/hr.

To convert the new infusion rate from units/hr to mL/min, use the concentration of the heparin bag which is 25,000 units in 250 mL. This equates to a concentration of 100 units/mL. The new infusion rate in units per hour divided by the concentration in units per mL gives the rate in mL/hr: 1,913.7 units/hr ÷ 100 units/mL = 19.137 mL/hr. Finally, to convert this to mL/min, divide by 60 (since there are 60 minutes in an hour): 19.137 mL/hr ÷ 60 = 0.31895 mL/min.