Question

A prescription for amoxicillin comes in an oral suspension that is 250 mg/5 mL. A patient is prescribed 500mg every 6 hours. How many mL should the patient take per dose? Also, how many teaspoons? And how many teaspoons per day?

Answer 1

1st) With a mathematical Rule of Three we can calculate the mL that the patient should take per dose:

`\begin{gathered} 250mg-5mL \\ 500mg-x=(500mg\cdot5mL)/(250mg) \\ \\ x=10mL \end{gathered}`

So, the patient should take 10mL of the oral suspension per dose.

2nd) We have to convert the mL to teaspoons, knowing that 1 teaspoon is equal to 5mL:

`\begin{gathered} 5mL-1\text{teaspoon} \\ 10mL-x=\frac{10mL\cdot1\text{teaspoon}}{5mL} \\ \\ x=2teaspoons^{} \end{gathered}`

So, the patient should take 2 teaspoons por dose.

3rd) A day has 24 hours, and the patient needs to take the dose every 6 hours, so dividing 24 into 6 we know that the patient must take 4 doses per day.

We know that 1 dose is equal to 2 teaspoons, so:

`\begin{gathered} 1\text{dose}-2\text{teaspoons} \\ 4\text{doses}-x=\frac{4\text{doses}\cdot2\text{teaspoons}}{1\text{dose}} \\ \\ x=8\text{teaspoons} \end{gathered}`

The patient must take 8 teaspoons per day.