Question

If a doctor writes a prescription for 3 mg / 1 kg of body weight for a patient that weighs 240 pounds, how many milligrams of medication do they need daily?

a. 109 mg
b. 327 mg
c. 309 mg
d. 127 mg

Answer 1

After converting the patient's weight from pounds to kilograms, the dosage is calculated by multiplying the weight in kilograms by the prescription ratio of 3 mg/kg, resulting in a daily dosage of 327 mg.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the correct dosage of medication in milligrams for a patient weighing 240 pounds, we first need to convert the patient's weight from pounds to kilograms. Since there are approximately 0.453592 kilogram in a pound, we multiply the weight of the patient in pounds by this conversion factor to get their weight in kilograms:

240 pounds × 0.453592 kg/pound = 108.86208 kilograms.

Now we use the doctor's prescription which states a dosage of 3 mg per 1 kg of body weight. This means we multiply the patient's weight in kilograms by the dosage ratio:

108.86208 kg × 3 mg/kg = 326.58624 mg.

The patient's daily dosage, when rounded to the nearest whole number as commonly practiced in prescriptions, is 327mg.

The final answer is 327 milligrams of medication needed daily, which corresponds to option (b)