Octreotide 50mcg/hr is ordered for a patient with esophageal varices, nurses prepared by mixing 1ml of concentration 0.5mg/ml of octreotide in 50mls NS. What rate should the bag be infused?
The concentration is the first thing to calculate, using 1 mL of octreotide solution containing a concentration of 0.5mg/mL is really using 0.5mg of octreotide. If this is placed in 50 mL NS then it is 0.5mg/50mL which is 0.01mg/mL or 10 mcg/mL. If the patient needs 50 mcg of octreotide per hour then the patient will need 5, 10 mcg/mL doses or 5 mLs. So the rate for this patient would be 5 mL/hr.
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