You're asked to add 15 mEq of Potassium chloride pre 1000mL of Normosol.?

Question

Potassium chloride is available as 20 mEq/10 mls. The amount of Potassium chloride needed for a 3 L bag of Normosol would be?

Please Please show me how did you get the answer. thx

Answer 1

Wow, I've never seen a 3 liter (3000 ml) bag of NaCl.  The ones I use are 1000 ml, or 500 ml, 250 ml, or 100ml.

Anyways, your question is kinda confusing.  But if you need to add 15 mEq of K+ per 1000ml.....then the total you would add to 3000 ml NaCl (3 liters) would be 45 mEq of K+.  (You would need to multiply 15 x 3 which would equal 45).  

So, each K+ amp is 20 mEq/10ml.  Your total dose of K+ that you need is 45 mEq.  You can already say you are going to draw up 2 amps of K+, and that would equal to 40 mEq of K+ and the ml would be 20 so far.  So you need to figure out how much mEq K+ is left to add, which would be 5 more mEq.  Here is your dosage calculation for the remaining 5 mEq of K+ that you need:

Formula:

Ordered/Have  x  Volume Per Have   =  Y (Liquid Required)

5 mEq / 20mEq  X  10 ml / 1  =  5 / 2  =  2.5 ml

Add 2.5 ml to the 20 ml you previously drew up and the total is 22.5 ml of K+

I hope this helps you out.  The IV dosage calculations can be tricky.  Make sure you learn the different formulas and it should make it easier for you.  :)

You can e-mail me if needed:  [e-mail]

Answer 2

Since you were asked to add 15 mEq of KCl per 1000 ml, that means you would need to add 45 mEq to 3000 ml (3L).

The concentration of KCl is 20 mEq/10ml = 2 mEq/ml.

You need 45 mEq but need to find out how much to draw up.

Therefore divide 45 by 2 = 22.5 ml need to be added to 3L to get desired concentration.