A primary healthcare provider has instructed a nurse to give 100 fl oz of fluids to a client with renal calculi. What should the nurse do while caring for this client?

This numeric form is appropriate, according to the Joint Commission, because it does not use a trailing zero after a decimal point, which is a common cause of medication errors and should be avoided. A trailing zero may be misread or misinterpreted as a larger dose 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 error¹². Therefore, the Joint Commission requires that a trailing zero may be used only when required to demonstrate the level of precision of the value being reported, such as for laboratory results, imaging studies that report the size of lesions, or catheter/tube sizes. It may not be used in medication orders or other medication-related documentation.

The other options are not appropriate numeric forms because:

a) 3.0 uses a trailing zero after a decimal point, which poses a risk of confusion or error.

b) 0.30 uses a trailing zero after a decimal point, which poses a risk of confusion or error.

c) 0.03 is not equivalent to 0.3, as it is 10 times smaller.

To find the milligrams per minute, you need to calculate the following:

- The volume of Lopressor in milliliters
- The infusion rate in milliliters per minute using the formula: Infusion rate (mL/min) = Total volume (mL) / Time (min)
- The dose of Lopressor in milligrams per minute using the formula: Dose (mg/min) = Infusion rate (mL/min) x Concentration (mg/mL)

First, divide the dose of Lopressor by the concentration to get the volume in milliliters:

5 mg / 1 mg/mL = 5 mL

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

Infusion rate (mL/min) = Total volume (mL) / Time (min)

Since the total volume is 5 mL and the time is 2 minutes, plug in these values into the formula:

Infusion rate (mL/min) = 5 mL / 2 min

Simplify and solve for the infusion rate:

Infusion rate (mL/min) = 2.5 mL/min

Then, use the formula for dose to find how many milligrams per minute the patient should receive:

Dose (mg/min) = Infusion rate (mL/min) x Concentration (mg/mL)

Since the infusion rate is 2.5 mL/min and the concentration is 1 mg/mL, plug in these values into the formula:

Dose (mg/min) = 2.5 mL/min x 1 mg/mL

Simplify and solve for the dose:

Dose (mg/min) = 2.5 mg/min

Therefore, the patient should receive **2.5 mg/min** of Lopressor.