A physicain a heparin bolus of 5000 units IV followed by heparin drip at 1000 units per hour.?

Question

The standard mixture of heparin is 25000 units/ 500 D5W. How many ml.hr should the pump be set to administer the heparin drip

Answer 1

This is more a math question than Medicine....

Anyway, if you have 25,000 units in 500 mL of dextrose solution (D5W means 5% dextrose solution), this means each mL will contain 50 units.  (25000 / 500 = 50)

If you need to administer 1,000 units per hour, you simply divide 1000 units/hr by 50 units/mL to get 20 mL/hr.

(For the bolus, you need to give 100 mL of the solution -- divide 5000 units by 50 units/mL to get 100mL.)