Dimensional Analysis
Practice
CHEM 102 DAY 2: CONTENT REVIEW
A patient needs to be administered a medication at a dose of 2 mg/kg of body weight.
If the patient weighs 70 kg, how many milligrams of medication should they receive?
Answer: 140 mg
1. Start with the weight of the patient and the dosage in mg/kg
Dosage=2mg/kg
Weight=70kg
2. Multiply the dosage by the patient's weight.
Total Dosage=2mg/kg×70kg
Total Dosage=140mg
A lab report indicates that a patient’s serum cholesterol level is 5.2 mmol/L. Convert
this concentration to mg/dL. (Note: 1 mmol/L of cholesterol = 38.67 mg/dL.)
Answer: 201.7 mg/dL
1. Use the conversion factor to convert mmol/L to mg/dL
- Cholesterol Level=5.2mmol/L × 38.67mg/dL per mmol/L
Cholesterol Level≈201.7mg/dL
A pharmaceutical company manufactures a medication in a concentration of 5 micrograms per milliliter (µg/mL). A patient is prescribed a total dose of 0.015 grams (g) of
the medication to be administered over a 2-week period. The medication is to be given via an IV infusion at a rate of 25 milliliters (mL) per hour.
Find out how many hours the medication infusion will take to complete, given the infusion rate.
A lot…. Right? Let’s take it step-by-step
Convert the total prescribed dose from grams to micrograms.
Convert the total prescribed dose from grams to micrograms.
Total Dosage: 15000 ug
Determine the total volume of the medication required for the entire 2-week period.
Determine the total volume of the medication required for the entire 2-week period.
Volume = Total dosage (ug) /Concentration (ug/mL)
Volume = 15000 ug/(5ug/mL) = 3000 mL
Find out how many hours the medication infusion will take to complete, given the
infusion rate.
Find out how many hours the medication infusion will take to complete, given the
infusion rate.
The infusion rate is 25 mL/hour. To find the total infusion time:
Time (hours) = Total Volume (mL) / Infusion Rate (mL/hour)
Answer? 120 hours
