Vitamin A supplement of 125 mcg is ordered. 0.25mg tablets are in stock. How many should be given? Write just the number in the answer box
Answers
Answer:
of Administering Parenteral Medications
Parenteral medications are any medications given by injection. Injection is usually given in one of three different ways:
Subcutaneously (subQ): A subcutaneous injection is one that is given in the fatty layer of tissue under the skin. The maximum amount of fluid an adult can safely be given subcutaneously is 1 mL. (Sometimes you may see this abbreviated as s.c., SC, s.q., or SQ, but you should never abbreviate it this way, since these outdated abbreviations have often been misread.)
Intramuscularly (IM): An intramuscular injection is one that is given in the muscle. The maximum amount of fluid an adult can safely be given intramuscularly is 3 mL; for a child, the maximum is 1 mL.
Intravenously (IV): An intravenous injection is one that is given directly into the vein. Much higher amounts of fluids can be given intravenouly; in fact, the limit on the amount of fluid that can be given intravenously is generally only capped by the limit on the amount of fluid a patient can take in each day (for a healthy patient this range is usually 35-50 mL/kg body weight/day, but this amount can vary greatly depending upon the condition of the patient).
Note the abbreviations for subcutaneously, intramuscularly, and intravenously: subQ, IM, and IV, respectively. We will wait until later lectures to learn in depth about IV medication; for the moment, we will give subQ, IM, and IV medications using syringes only.
Types of Syringes Used for Parenteral Medication
There are several different sizes of syringes that might be used for medication. You should always use the smallest possible syringe in which the dosage will fit, because the smaller the syringe, the more accurately you can measure the dosage:
3 mL syringe (3 cc syringe) : This is the most commonly used syringe. As it's name suggests, it holds a total of 3 mL of fluid. Every tenth of a mL is marked on the syringe, and every half mL is labeled; this means that any dosage we plan to measure using a 3 mL syringe should be rounded to the nearest tenth.
Dosages between 1-3 mL should always be measured in a 3 mL syringe.
Some 3 mL syringes have the mL scale to the right and a minim scale to