A nurse is preparing to administer dopamine 3mcg/kg/min by continuous IV infusion to a preschooler who weighs 41.8 bs. Available is dopamine 400 mg in dextrose 596 in water (D5W) 250 mL. The nurse should set the IV pump to deliver how many ml/hr? (Round to the nearest tenth. Use a leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.)

A) Ampicillin 500 mg
This is correctly written using metric abbreviations and follows standard rules for medication dosage. In the metric system, the drug name is followed by the dose, with the unit of measurement ("mg" for milligrams) written in lowercase. The correct usage of the unit abbreviation "mg" and proper spacing between the medication and the dose makes this option correct. Additionally, no trailing zeros are used, which is important for avoiding confusion in clinical settings.

B) ampicillin mg 500
This is incorrect because the unit of measurement ("mg") should follow the dose, not precede it. The correct format places the drug name first, followed by the numerical dose, and then the unit of measurement (in this case, "mg"). The unit abbreviation should be lowercase and placed after the dose. This structure is standard in pharmaceutical and medical documentation.

C) ampicillin 500 MG
While this provides the correct drug name and dosage, the unit abbreviation "MG" is written in uppercase, which is incorrect according to standard guidelines. Unit abbreviations should be written in lowercase letters unless they are the first word in a sentence. Writing "MG" in uppercase can lead to confusion and does not follow the convention for unit symbols.

D) ampicillin 500.0 mg
This is also incorrect because of the unnecessary trailing zero after the decimal point. In medication dosage, a trailing zero (e.g., 500.0 mg) is considered a potential error, as it can be misinterpreted. For example, a dosage of "500.0 mg" may be misread as a higher dose (e.g., 500 mg vs. 500.0 mg), and this could lead to medication errors. Standard practice is to avoid using trailing zeros unless they are required to prevent ambiguity (e.g., 0.5 mg).

Given:

Ordered dose of Lithium: 300 mg

Available Lithium capsules: 150 mg/capsule

Step 1: Calculate the number of capsules required:

Number of capsules = Desired dose (mg) / Strength of each capsule (mg/capsule)

Number of capsules = 300 mg / 150 mg/capsule

Number of capsules = 2 capsules