Question

As a pharmacist assisting a code blue team, you've been asked to initiate amiodarone therapy. The patient has received one bolus of 150 mg IV push during the code and now requires a maintenance continuous infusion of 0.8 mg/min. After admixing amiodarone 150 mg into a 100 mL NS IVPB, you must determine what drip rate (mL/hr) should be used to achieve the appropriate dose?

Answer 1

The appropriate drip rate (mL/hr) to achieve the desired dose of amiodarone is 32 mL/hr.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the appropriate drip rate (mL/hr) for the maintenance continuous infusion of amiodarone, we need to calculate the flow rate.

First, we need to convert the dose from mg/min to mL/hr. The concentration of the amiodarone IV bag is 150 mg/100 mL. We want to administer 0.8 mg/min, which is equivalent to 48 mg/hr (0.8 mg/min * 60 min/hr).

Using the formula:

Dose (mL/hr) = Dose (mg/hr) * Volume (mL) / Concentration (mg/mL)

We can plug in the values and calculate the flow rate:

Dose (mL/hr) = 48 mg/hr * 100 mL / 150 mg = 32 mL/hr

Therefore, the appropriate drip rate to achieve the desired dose is 32 mL/hr.