Dr. Smith wants a dopamine drip started at 20mcg/kg/min
on John Doe in Bed 7. John Doe's weight is 70 kilograms.
He wants an 800mg vial of dopamine mixed in 500 mL of D5W.
Plug in the amounts in the calculator as shown below.
Using the calculator, John Doe's IV pump is
set to deliver 53 cc/hr of Dopamine.
Formula
First, convert mcg/kg/min into mg/hr.
In the example above, the dose would be 84 mg/hr.
Next, use the IV
dosage formula to solve the rest of the problem.
In the example, 84 mg is the dose ordered,
800 mg is the dose available,
500 mL is the volume.
If you're lucky enough to have new IV pumps
that accept mcg/kg/min, obviously this entire process is
unecessary.
