Question

The physician has ordered a medication to be given 0.05 mg/kg/day in 1,000 mL of fluid. The patient weighs 246 lbs. The dose added to the 1,000 mL bag of fluid should be _____ mg. (round your answer to one decimal place)

Answer 1

To determine the medication dosage for a 246 lbs patient, first convert the weight to kilograms and then multiply by the physician's prescribed dose of 0.05 mg/kg/day, resulting in a rounded dose of 5.6 mg to be added to the 1,000 mL fluid.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the dose of medication needed for the patient, we must convert the patient's weight from pounds to kilograms and then use the physician's order to find the dosage in milligrams. First, we convert the patient's weight: 246 lbs = 246/2.2 kg = 111.8182 kg. According to the physician's order of 0.05 mg/kg/day, the daily medication dosage should be 0.05 mg/kg x 111.8182 kg = 5.5909 mg.

Since we want only one decimal place, we round the dosage to 5.6 mg to be added to the 1,000 mL bag of fluid. Remember that units are crucial; without the correct units the calculations can be meaningless or even dangerous as highlighted by the examples provided.