Questions: A nurse is preparing to administer gentamicin to a client who weighs 165 lb. The medication reference recommends administering 2 mg / kg IM every 8 hr. How many mg should the nurse plan to administer per dose? (Round the answer to the nearest whole number. Use a leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.) mg

Solution Steps

To solve this problem, we need to convert the client's weight from pounds to kilograms and then use the medication dosage recommendation to calculate the amount of gentamicin to administer per dose.

1. Convert the client's weight from pounds to kilograms using the conversion factor \(1 \text{ lb} = 0.453592 \text{ kg}\).
2. Multiply the client's weight in kilograms by the recommended dosage of \(2 \text{ mg/kg}\) to find the total dosage in milligrams.
3. Round the result to the nearest whole number.

To convert the client's weight from pounds to kilograms, we use the conversion factor \(1 \text{ lb} = 0.453592 \text{ kg}\). Thus, the weight in kilograms is calculated as follows:

\[ \text{Weight}_{\text{kg}} = 165 \text{ lb} \times 0.453592 \text{ kg/lb} \approx 74.8427 \text{ kg} \]

The recommended dosage is \(2 \text{ mg/kg}\). Therefore, the total dosage in milligrams can be calculated using the weight in kilograms:

\[ \text{Total Dosage}_{\text{mg}} = 74.8427 \text{ kg} \times 2 \text{ mg/kg} \approx 149.6854 \text{ mg} \]

Finally, we round the total dosage to the nearest whole number:

\[ \text{Rounded Dosage}_{\text{mg}} \approx 150 \text{ mg} \]

Final Answer