Example

A patient is on a norepinephrine drip infusing at 56 cc/hr.  There is no titration table table at the bedside.  The IV bag is labeled 32 mg norepinephrine in 500cc Dextrose 5%.  How many mcg/min is the patient receiving?  Use the example below to see how to solve this problem with the calculator.

rate = 56mL/hr
dose available = 32mg
mL available = 500mL

With the calculator, we see the patient is recieving 60 mcg/min of norepinephrine.  This is a higher than recommended dose!!!

Formula

In this example, first determine how many milligrams/hour is being delivered by the IV pump.  The rate of the IV pump (mL/hr) is divided by the volume of the IV bag (mL available), then multiply this result by the total amount of medication (mg) in the IV bag.

becomes

which = 3.58 mg/hr

Next, after the milligrams/hour has been determined, use the next formula to convert from milligrams/hour to mcg/min.

becomes 

which is 59.7 mcg/min (yikes!)