Practice Pharmacology Calculations

1. A 37 year old female patient with a history of peptic ulcers is ordered 500 mg of tetracycline hydrochloride PO q6h
for 14 days to treat a Helicobacter pylori infection. The patient expresses an aversion to swallowing pills and
requests a liquid form of the medication. The pharmacy has available an oral suspension in a concentration of
125 mg tetracycline per 5 ml. How many teaspoons of medication will you instruct the patient to take per dose?

2. Your patient is ordered 100 mg SoluMedrol IM q8h. The pharmacy sends a vial labeled 125 mg SoluMedrol per 3
ml. How many ml will you administer? What size syringe is best to administer this dose?

3. A 22 year old patient with a urinary tract infection is ordered 400 mg of Ampicillin IM q6h. You receive from the
pharmacy a vial of Ampicillin powder with a label that reads: “For IM injection, add 3.5 ml diluent (read
accompanying circular). Resulting solution contains 250 mg Ampicillin per ml. Use solution within one hour.”
How many ml will you administer?

4. A 13 year old patient, who weighs 110 pounds, has otitis media. His nurse practitioner has ordered 25 mg
ampicillin/kg/day IM in 4 divided doses. The pharmacy sends you ampicillin in a concentration of 1 gram per 12
ml solution. How many mg per dose should your patient receive? How many ml of solution will you administer?

5. Your patient is to receive 2 liters of Lactated Ringers solution infused over 24 hours. The administration set
delivers 12 drops per ml. How many drops per minute will you administer the IV?

6. Your patient is to receive 8 mEq per hour potassium chloride in a solution of D5W via IV pump. The concentration
of the solution is 20 mEq KCl per 50 ml D5W. At what rate will you set a standard IV pump to deliver the correct
dosage of KCl?

7. The nurse practitioner has ordered Gentamycin 100 mg/100 ml solution IVPB q8h for your patient. When you
look up Gentamycin in the drug handbook, you learn that it should be infused over 90 minutes. At what rate will
you set your standard IV pump?

8. The nurse midwife has ordered 4 grams of magnesium sulfate in 500 ml of D5W to infuse over 3 hours for your
pregnant client. At what rate will you set the standard IV pump?

9. Your pregnant client is undergoing labor induction. The nurse midwife has ordered an IV of 1000 ml Lactated
Ringers with 20 units of Pitocin. The order reads increase the pitocin to 8 milliunits per minute. At what rate will
you set the standard IV pump to deliver the correct amount of pitocin?

10. Your patient is a neonate who weighs 4.6 kg. The pediatrician has ordered 110 kc/kg/day. He is fed Enfamil with
iron (24 kc/ounce) every 3 hours. How many ml per feeding will you feed your patient to meet is caloric
requirements for the day?

11. A newborn who weighs 4 pounds 4 ounces has an order for 120 kc/kg/day. If you feed the child every 2-1/2
hours, how many ounces of standard formula must you prepare for each feeding?

12. Your client is an 11 year old with obsessive-compulsive disorder. His physician has prescribed 25 mg of Zoloft PO
daily to increase PRN up to 200 mg daily in equally divided doses not to exceed four doses per day. The drug
handbook states the dosage may be increased at intervals of no less than 1 week. The medication is supplied in
25 mg tablets. Assuming you double the daily dosage with each increase, and you increase the dosage at the
fastest rate allowed, how many days will be required to reach the maximum daily dosage? On that day, what is
the minimum number of tablets per dose the child may take?

13. A child who weighs 76 pounds is ordered to receive 150 mg of Clindamycin q6h. The drug handbook states the
recommended dose is 8-20 mg/kg/day in four divided doses. The Clindamycin is supplied in 100 mg scored
tablets. According to the drug handbook, what is a safe dosage range for this child? Is the amount of
Clindamycin ordered a safe dose for this child? How many tablets will you give per dose?

14. A child, who weighs 23.2 kg and is 114.5 cm tall, has an order for 30 mg of a drug with an average adult dose of
60 mg. Based on body surface area, is the physician’s order correct?

15. Your 8 year old client, who weighs 60 pounds and is 51 inches tall, has malignant lymphoma. She has an order
for Leukeran 4.5 mg/m2 PO daily. The medication is available in 2 mg tablets. How many tablets will your client
receive per dose?
Conversions and Formulas
5 mL / teaspoon

2.2 pounds / kg

1000 mg / g

mL / hour = standard IV pump rate

1000 milliunits / unit

30 mL / ounce

Kc = kilocalorie = calorie

20 kc / ounce of baby formula and breast milk

16 ounces / pound

Body Surface Area (BSA) measured in m2 = ((kg x cm) / 3600)1/2

Pediatric Dosing: (BSA / 1.7) x Adult Dosage

Answers:
1. 4 teaspoons

2. 2.4 mL; 3 mL syringe

3. 1.6 mL

4. 312 mg; 3.7 mL

5. 17 gtt/min

6. 20 mL/hour

7. 67 mL/hour

8. 167 mL/hour

9. 24 mL/hour

10. 79 mL

11. 1.2 ounces

12. 21 days; 2 tablets

13. 69 mg to 172 mg per dose; Yes, the ordered dose is safe; 1.5 tablets

14. Yes, the physician’s order is correct

15. 2 tablets