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The ER doctor instructs you to use Dopamine for your 187 lbs patient with low blood pressure. Dopamine comes in a premixed bag of 800 mg in 500 ml of D5W. You will be administering this medication with a micro set. You are to give 10 mcg/kg/min. How many drips will you be giving per minute?

A. 20 drops/min
B. 25 drops/min
C. 30 drops/min
D. 35 drops/min

Answer :

Final answer:

To determine the drip rate for a patient prescribed dopamine at a rate of 10 mcg/kg/min, the patient's weight is converted to kilograms, the dosage in mcg per minute is found, the dopamine concentration in mcg/mL is calculated, and then the volume per minute is used to find the drip rate in drops per minute. The correct answer is 32 drops/min, which indicates that none of the options provided is correct.

Explanation:

The subject of the question is medication dosage calculation, which falls under the category of Medicine, and it is of a College level. The student is asked how many drops per minute (drips per minute) they should administer for a patient weighing 187 pounds who is prescribed a dopamine infusion at a rate of 10 micrograms per kilogram per minute using an 800 mg in 500 mL D5W solution with a micro set. To calculate the drip rate, we must first convert the patient's weight to kilograms, calculate the total micrograms of dopamine required per minute, determine the concentration of dopamine in the IV solution, and finally, apply the formula to find the rate in drops per minute using a micro set (which typically delivers 60 drops per mL).

Step-by-Step Calculation

  1. Convert the patient's weight from pounds to kilograms: 187 lbs ÷ 2.2 lbs/kg = 85 kg.
  2. Calculate the dosage in micrograms per minute: 85 kg × 10 mcg/kg/min = 850 mcg/min.
  3. Determine the concentration of dopamine in the solution: (800 mg × 1000 mcg/mg) ÷ 500 mL = 1600 mcg/mL.
  4. Calculate the volume of solution required per minute: 850 mcg/min ÷ 1600 mcg/mL = 0.53125 mL/min.
  5. Convert the volume in mL to drops per minute assuming a micro set delivers 60 drops/mL: 0.53125 mL/min × 60 drops/mL = 31.875 drops/min.

Rounding to the nearest whole number, the correct answer is 32 drops per minute. Therefore, the correct answer is not listed in the options provided, and none of the options (A) 20 drops/min, (B) 25 drops/min, (C) 30 drops/min, or (D) 35 drops/min are correct.

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