Questions: A nurse is preparing to administer cephalexin 0.25 g PO every 6 hr. Available is cephalexin 500 mg tablets. How many tablets should the nurse administer per dose? (Round the answer to the nearest tenth. Use a leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.) tablet(s)

Solution Steps

To solve this problem, we need to convert the prescribed dose from grams to milligrams, then determine how many 500 mg tablets are needed to achieve the prescribed dose.

1. Convert the prescribed dose from grams to milligrams.
2. Calculate the number of 500 mg tablets required to meet the prescribed dose.
3. Round the result to the nearest tenth.

The prescribed dose is \(0.25 \, \text{g}\). To convert grams to milligrams, we use the conversion factor \(1 \, \text{g} = 1000 \, \text{mg}\).

\[ 0.25 \, \text{g} \times 1000 \, \frac{\text{mg}}{\text{g}} = 250.0 \, \text{mg} \]

The available tablet strength is \(500 \, \text{mg}\). To find the number of tablets needed, we divide the prescribed dose in milligrams by the strength of one tablet.

\[ \frac{250.0 \, \text{mg}}{500 \, \text{mg/tablet}} = 0.5 \, \text{tablets} \]

The calculated number of tablets is already \(0.5\), which is to the nearest tenth.

Final Answer