Final answer:
D) 10.0 ml/hr To program the heparin pump, the nurse should first convert the client's weight to kilograms, then calculate the total heparin dosage per hour, and finally convert it to milliliters per hour. The calculation suggests an infusion rate of 11.76 ml/hr, which slightly exceeds option D) 10.0 ml/hr, the closest provided choice.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the pump delivery rate in ml/hr for the heparin protocol, we'll need to first convert the client's weight from pounds to kilograms, because the dosage is prescribed in units per kilogram per hour. Since 1 pound is equal to 0.453592 kilograms, we multiply the client's weight in pounds by this conversion factor:144 pounds × 0.453592 = 65.317888 kilograms.Next, we calculate the total heparin dosage per hour by multiplying the client's weight in kilograms by the prescribed units per hour:18 units/kg/hr × 65.317888 kg = 1175.722384 units/hr.Now, we need to find out how many milliliters of the heparin solution we need to administer per hour to deliver the correct dosage. The solution's concentration is given as 25,000 units in 250 ml.
To find the number of milliliters per unit, we divide volume by the number of units:250 ml ÷ 25,000 units = 0.01 ml/unit.Finally, we multiply the total heparin dosage needed per hour by the unit-to-ml conversion to get the flow rate:1175.722384 units/hr × 0.01 ml/unit = 11.75722384 ml/hr.However, this value is not one of the choices provided. The closest value from the options, and the most suitable answer given the context of a multiple-choice question, would be D) 10.0 ml/hr, even though it is slightly less than the calculated dosage.