Question

The physician orders 20 mg of a drug by IM injection. The medication is available in a 50 mg/mL vial. You should administer _____ mL of the medication. (record your answer using one decimal place)

Answer 1

To administer a 20 mg dose from a 50 mg/mL vial, you should give an IM injection of 0.4 mL.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the volume of medication to administer, you need to use the formula: volume = dose / concentration. In this case, the dose is 20 mg and the concentration is 50 mg/mL. The physician orders 20 mg of a drug by IM injection. The medication is available in a 50 mg/mL vial. To calculate the volume to administer, we use a simple ratio:

Volume to administer (mL) = Dose ordered (mg) / Concentration of drug (mg/mL)

Following this formula:

Volume to administer (mL) = 20 mg / 50 mg/mL

This equals 0.4 mL. Therefore, you should administer 0.4 mL of the medication.