Question

Your patient has a DVT is ordered for a heparin infusion to start at 18 units/kg/hour

per the practitioner's order. His weight is 75kg. The heparin infusion comes in a
500ml bag with 25,000 units. Calculate the starting rate of the infusion (ml/hour).

Answer 1

To calculate the starting rate of the heparin infusion, divide the desired dose in units/hour by the concentration in units/ml.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the starting rate of the heparin infusion, we need to use the formula:

Starting rate (ml/hour) = (desired dose in units/hour) / (concentration in units/ml)

In this case, the desired dose is 18 units/kg/hour and the concentration of the heparin infusion is 25,000 units in a 500ml bag. To find the desired dose for a 75kg patient, we multiply the weight by the dose. So the desired dose for the patient is 18 units/kg/hour * 75 kg = 1350 units/hour. Plugging in the values into the formula:

Starting rate (ml/hour) = 1350 units/hour / 25000 units/ml = 0.054 ml/hour