Questions: Let's practice! 1. Give 10 mcg / kg / hr of Lovethis. Pt weighs 165 lbs. Lovethis comes 20 mg / 50 ml. What is the infusion rate? (Hint: You are looking for ml / hr and convert the weight first to kg!)

Solution Steps

To solve this problem, we need to follow these steps:

1. Convert the patient's weight from pounds to kilograms.
2. Calculate the dosage in micrograms per hour based on the patient's weight in kilograms.
3. Convert the dosage from micrograms to milligrams.
4. Determine the volume in milliliters per hour using the concentration of the medication.

To convert the weight from pounds to kilograms, we use the conversion factor \( 1 \, \text{lb} = 0.453592 \, \text{kg} \): \[ \text{Weight in kg} = 165 \, \text{lbs} \times 0.453592 \, \text{kg/lb} \approx 74.8427 \, \text{kg} \]

The dosage is given as \( 10 \, \text{mcg/kg/hr} \). Therefore, the total dosage in micrograms per hour is: \[ \text{Dosage in mcg/hr} = 10 \, \text{mcg/kg/hr} \times 74.8427 \, \text{kg} \approx 748.4268 \, \text{mcg/hr} \]

To convert micrograms to milligrams, we use the conversion \( 1 \, \text{mg} = 1000 \, \text{mcg} \): \[ \text{Dosage in mg/hr} = \frac{748.4268 \, \text{mcg/hr}}{1000} \approx 0.7484 \, \text{mg/hr} \]

The concentration of Lovethis is given as \( \frac{20 \, \text{mg}}{50 \, \text{ml}} = 0.4 \, \text{mg/ml} \). The infusion rate in milliliters per hour can be calculated as: \[ \text{Infusion rate in ml/hr} = \frac{0.7484 \, \text{mg/hr}}{0.4 \, \text{mg/ml}} \approx 1.8711 \, \text{ml/hr} \]

Final Answer