A physician ordered Regian (metoclopramide) 10 mg to be mixed with 50 mL of normal saline and infused over 15 minutes. A nurse must set the IV pump to deliver the medication per mL/hr as ordered.
At what rate should the solution be administered?

To answer this question, we need to calculate the infusion rate in mL per hour, then multiply it by the total time in hours, and finally divide it by 1000 to get the volume in litres.

The infusion rate in mL per hour is the amount of fluid that is given to a patient over a period of time. It can be calculated by dividing the total volume of fluid in mL by the total time in hours². In this case, the infusion rate is:

2.75 mL/min × 60 min/h = 165 mL/h

The total volume of fluid in mL is the infusion rate multiplied by the total time in hours. In this case, the total volume is:

165 mL/h × 7 h = 1155 mL

The volume in litres is the volume in mL divided by 1000. In this case, the volume in litres is:

1155 mL / 1000 = 1.16 L

Therefore, the correct answer is d. 1.16 L.

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.