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Hi there. So I have been studying in advance for my Medic program and I have a few questions regarding giving medications. I hope this isn't as jumbled up as I think it is, and I hope you can make sense of my rambling.
From what I've gathered, there's essentially 3 formulas I need to know.
Volume on Hand x Desired Dose / Concentration.
From what I understand, this formula is used to draw medications up from a vial, and the concentration is the total amount of the drug within the vial, and the volume is the amount of fluid in the vial. For example, if I had a vial that was 10ml and contained 20mg of a drug, and I wanted to draw up 6mg of a drug, my formula would be 10ml x 6mg / 20mg = 3ml. So in order to get my desired dose of 6mg, I would need to draw up 3ml. Right?
The next formula I found was for a drip? I think.
Volume on Hand x Desired Dose x Drip Factor / Concentration?
This one really kind of confuses me, and I guess this is a multi-facet question. I've read up on some drugs and protocols and I'll use an example I've found in Amiodarone. The first dose in V-Tach, V-Fib it says that you give 300mg IV which I assume I would use the first formula for this case. I would draw the 300mg from the vial and then just push it into the IV. But then, it's second dose is 150mg/10 minutes. After digging further, I see that people are inserting the medication into saline bags and then setting them as a drip. Is this common with a lot of other drugs? Is this what that formula above is for? Would it be something like this?
100ml (saline bag) x 150mg (desired amiodarone dose) x Drip factor? (I can't find much when I try to look up drip factor. I'm unsure what that is exactly, if you could help me that would be great) / 150mg (dose of amiodarone)
The last formula I found was..
Volume to be Infused x Drip Factor? / Time.
I'm pretty confused on the last two formulas and how/when I'd implement them in the field. If anyone could help me out that would be great. I'm currently trying to study my protocols ahead of time so I have an early start.
From what I've gathered, there's essentially 3 formulas I need to know.
Volume on Hand x Desired Dose / Concentration.
From what I understand, this formula is used to draw medications up from a vial, and the concentration is the total amount of the drug within the vial, and the volume is the amount of fluid in the vial. For example, if I had a vial that was 10ml and contained 20mg of a drug, and I wanted to draw up 6mg of a drug, my formula would be 10ml x 6mg / 20mg = 3ml. So in order to get my desired dose of 6mg, I would need to draw up 3ml. Right?
The next formula I found was for a drip? I think.
Volume on Hand x Desired Dose x Drip Factor / Concentration?
This one really kind of confuses me, and I guess this is a multi-facet question. I've read up on some drugs and protocols and I'll use an example I've found in Amiodarone. The first dose in V-Tach, V-Fib it says that you give 300mg IV which I assume I would use the first formula for this case. I would draw the 300mg from the vial and then just push it into the IV. But then, it's second dose is 150mg/10 minutes. After digging further, I see that people are inserting the medication into saline bags and then setting them as a drip. Is this common with a lot of other drugs? Is this what that formula above is for? Would it be something like this?
100ml (saline bag) x 150mg (desired amiodarone dose) x Drip factor? (I can't find much when I try to look up drip factor. I'm unsure what that is exactly, if you could help me that would be great) / 150mg (dose of amiodarone)
The last formula I found was..
Volume to be Infused x Drip Factor? / Time.
I'm pretty confused on the last two formulas and how/when I'd implement them in the field. If anyone could help me out that would be great. I'm currently trying to study my protocols ahead of time so I have an early start.