A nurse is preparing to administer cefotaxime 100 mg/kg/day IM divided in equal doses every 6 hr to a school-age child who weighs 50 lb. Available is cefotaxime injection 300 mg/mL. How many mL should the nurse administer per dose? (Round the answer to the nearest tenth. Use a leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.)

To calculate the dosage of cefotaxime, first convert the child's weight from pounds to kilograms, knowing that 1 kilogram equals 2.2 pounds. The child weighs 50 lb, which is approximately 22.7 kg (50 / 2.2). The prescribed dose is 100 mg/kg/day, so the total daily dose is 2,270 mg (100 mg/kg * 22.7 kg). This total daily dose should be divided into equal doses administered every 6 hours, which means 4 doses per day. Therefore, each dose will be 567.5 mg (2,270 mg / 4). With the medication available at a concentration of 300 mg/mL, divide the single dose by the concentration to find the volume per dose: 567.5 mg / 300 mg/mL = 1.89 mL. Rounded to the nearest tenth, the nurse should administer 1.9 mL per dose.