The healthcare provider prescribes dobutamine 6 mcg/kg/min IV for a client who weighs 140 pounds. The IV bag contains dobutamine 250 mg in 250 mL dextrose 5% in water (DW). How many mL/hr should the nurse program the infusion pump to deliver? (Enter numeric value only. If rounding is required, round to the nearest tenth.)

First, let’s convert the client’s weight from pounds to kilograms since the dosage is prescribed in mcg/kg/min. We know that 1 kg is approximately 2.2 lbs. So, Weight in kg = 140 lbs/2.2 ​≈ 63.64 kg The prescribed dose is 6 mcg/kg/min. Therefore, the total dose for this client per minute would be: Dose per minute=6 mcg/kg/min×63.64 kg = 381.84 mcg/min We need to convert this to mcg/hr since we want the rate in mL/hr and our final concentration is in mcg/mL. There are 60 minutes in an hour, so: Dose per hour = 381.84 mcg/min×60 = 22910.4 mcg/hr The IV bag contains 250 mg of dobutamine in 250 mL of solution. This is equivalent to 250,000 mcg in 250 mL, or 1000 mcg/mL. Finally, we can find the rate in mL/hr by dividing the dose per hour by the concentration: Rate in mL/hr = 22910.4 mcg/hr / 1000 mcg/mL ​ = 22.91 mL/hr If rounding is required to the nearest tenth, the nurse should program the infusion pump to deliver 22.9 mL/hr.