A mother calls a nurse to say that she lost the measuring cup that comes with the cough syrup botle. How many teaspoons should the nurse recommend for the child if the dose is 10 mL?

This action should be taken by the nurse before administering the medication because the use of a trailing zero after a decimal point (5.0 mg) is a common cause of medication errors and should be avoided. A trailing zero may be misread or misinterpreted as a larger dose (50 mg) or omited altogether, resulting in a 10-fold overdose or underdose, respectively. For example, when prescriptions have been writen for "Coumadin 1.0 mg," patients have received 10 mg in error. Therefore, the nurse should clarify the intended dose with the healthcare provider and use the correct notation (5 mg) without a trailing zero.

The other options are not appropriate actions because:

a) Discussing the use of PO (by mouth) with the healthcare provider is not necessary, as PO is a standard route of administration for Haldol (haloperidol) and does not pose a risk of confusion or error.

b) Discussing the use of tid (three times a day) with the healthcare provider is not necessary, as tid is a standard frequency of administration for Haldol and does not pose a risk of confusion or error.

c) Discussing the use of Haldol with the healthcare provider is not relevant to the question, as Haldol is the prescribed medication for the patient who is agitated and does not need to be changed or questioned by the nurse.

To find the milliliters per hour, you need to calculate the following:

- The patient's weight in kilograms
- The dose of Principen in milligrams
- The infusion rate in milliliters per hour using the formula: Infusion rate (mL/h) = (Total volume (mL) x Flow factor (gt/mL)) / Time (min) x 60 min/h

First, convert the patient's weight from pounds to kilograms by dividing by 2.2:

22 lb / 2.2 = 10 kg

Next, multiply the patient's weight by the dose of Principen per kilogram to get the total dose in milligrams:

10 kg x 25 mg/kg = 250 mg

Then, use the formula for infusion rate to find how many milliliters per hour the IV pump should deliver:

Infusion rate (mL/h) = (Total volume (mL) x Flow factor (gt/mL)) / Time (min) x 60 min/h

Since the medication is prepared in 50 mL of solution and the infusion time is 30 minutes, plug in these values into the formula:

Infusion rate (mL/h) = (50 mL x 1 gt/mL) / 30 min x 60 min/h

Simplify and solve for the infusion rate:

Infusion rate (mL/h) = 100 mL/h

Therefore, the nurse should administer **100 mL/h** to infuse Principen 250 mg over 30 minutes.