Question

Dosage ordered 40 mg of secobarbitol (elixir) The stock bottle contains 22 mg of secobarbitol in 5 ml solution. How many mL should patient received?

Answer 1

If the dose requires that a total of 40 mg be given, then you take the ratio of the stock bottle (mg/mL) and solve for the total amount of mL that are needed by multiplying the amount of mL required (x):

$\frac{22}{5} *x=40$

Multiply by 5 on both sides to give:

$22x=200$

Then solve for x:

$\frac{200}{22}=9.091mL$

Another, possibly quicker, way to solve would be to set up a proportion - one side the stock bottle ratio, and the other side the dosage requirements:

$\frac{22}{5} = \frac{40}{x}$

Cross multiply and you get:

$22x=200$

And you would solve this the same way as above.

So the patient should receive 9.091 mL of secobarbitol.