A child weighing 18 pounds has been prescribed amoxicillin at a dosage of 25 mg/kg/day. The medication is to be administered orally in two divided doses every 12 hours. The label on the bottle reads, “Amoxicillin for Oral Suspension, USP 400 mg per 5 mL.”. How many mL should the nurse administer for each dose? (Provide a numerical value only. If rounding is required, round to the nearest tenth.)

Step 1: First, convert the child’s weight from pounds to kilograms. Since 1 pound is approximately 0.45 kilograms, an 18-pound child weighs about 8.16 kilograms (18 pounds × 0.45 kg/pound). Step 2: Next, calculate the total daily dosage of amoxicillin. The prescribed dosage is 25 mg/kg/day. Therefore, the total daily dosage is 204 mg/day (8.16 kg × 25 mg/kg). Step 3: Since the medication is to be administered in two divided doses every 12 hours, each dose should be half of the total daily dosage. Therefore, each dose is 102 mg (204 mg/day ÷ 2). Step 4: Finally, calculate the volume of the suspension to be administered for each dose. The label on the bottle reads, “Amoxicillin for Oral Suspension, USP 400 mg per 5 mL.”. Therefore, each milliliter of the suspension contains 80 mg of amoxicillin (400 mg/5 mL). To administer a dose of 102 mg, the nurse should administer approximately 1.275 mL (102 mg ÷ 80 mg/mL). If rounding is required, round to the nearest tenth. Therefore, the nurse should administer 1.3 mL for each dose.