A client in cardiogenic shock is prescribed 0.9% normal saline with milrinone 10 mg in 100 ml at a rate of 46 mcg/minute. How many ml/hour should the nurse program the infusion pump?

To determine the correct infusion rate in ml/hour, it is important to first calculate the total amount of milrinone in the solution and then relate the prescribed rate of milrinone to the total volume.

The infusion contains 10 mg of milrinone in 100 ml. To start, we need to convert the prescribed dosage rate of milrinone from micrograms per minute (mcg/min) to milligrams per hour (mg/hour):

1. The infusion rate is prescribed at 46 mcg/min. To convert this to mg/hour:

• There are 1,000 mcg in 1 mg, so:

[

46 \text{ mcg/min} \times 60 \text{ min/hour} = 2,760 \text{ mcg/hour}

]

• Convert to mg:

[

2,760 \text{ mcg/hour} \div 1000 = 2.76 \text{ mg/hour}

]

Next, we can find out how many ml of the solution contains this amount of milrinone. Since the entire 100 ml contains 10 mg:

2. Calculate the concentration of the milrin