Question

A nurse is taking care of a 56-year-old man with end-stage liver disease. The nurse has a prescription to give 20 g of lactulose every 6 hours to treat the client's hepatic encephalopathy. On hand, the nurse has containers of lactulose which have 30 g in 45 mL. How many milliliters is the nurse going to administer every 6 hours to the client?

a) 15 mL
b) 67.5 mL
c) 22.5 mL
d) 30 mL

Answer 1

To find the correct amount of lactulose to administer, a proportion is set up with the prescribed dose and the known concentration. Cross-multiplication solves for the volume in milliliters needed for the 20 g dose, leading to a calculation that yields 30 mL, the amount the nurse will administer every 6 hours.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many milliliters of lactulose the nurse will administer every 6 hours, we need to use the information provided about the concentration of lactulose in the container and the prescribed dose. The container has 30 g of lactulose in 45 mL. The prescription is for 20 g of lactulose.

We can set up a proportion to find out how many milliliters correspond to 20 g since we know that 30 g corresponds to 45 mL:

30 g / 45 mL = 20 g / X mL

Cross-multiplying gives us:

30 g × X mL = 20 g × 45 mL

X = (20 g × 45 mL) / 30 g

X = 900 / 30

X = 30 mL

Therefore, the nurse will administer 30 mL of lactulose every 6 hours to the client.