A nurse is asked to give 50 mg of a drug. The drug comes in a concentration of 2 mg/mL. How many mL will be administered?

To determine how many milliliters the nurse needs to administer to provide a dose of 50 mg with a drug concentration of 2 mg/mL, the calculation involves dividing the total dose required by the concentration of the drug.

First, it's important to set up the equation based on the relationship between the total dose and concentration. The total dose required is 50 mg, and since the concentration of the drug is 2 mg per mL, the calculation will be:

Total volume (mL) = Total dose (mg) / Concentration (mg/mL)

Substituting in the known values:

Total volume (mL) = 50 mg / 2 mg/mL = 25 mL

This indicates that to achieve a 50 mg dose, the nurse would need to administer 25 mL of the solution. This makes sense because for every 1 mL of the drug, the nurse will be administering 2 mg, so it will take 25 mL to reach the desired total of 50 mg.

Understanding this calculation is critical, as it ensures accurate dosing, which is essential in patient care for both safety and effectiveness.