Master Infusions Prescribed by Unit Dosage per Hour with Picmonic for Nursing RN

The first step of the equation is to calculate the amount of medication per 1 mL. This will make it easier to calculate the mL per hour in the next step.

The first calculation is to divide the known amount of units in the solution by the total volume of diluent. Example: The available IV bag of medication is 25,000 units of heparin in 500 mL D5W; the equation would be 25,000 units/500mL= 50 units/1mL.

In the second step, you calculate how many milliliters to give over an hour. This is done by using the amount of units per mL which was calculated in step 1.

In this equation you take the dose per hour desired; which is the prescribed amount, divided by the concentration per milliliter; which is the amount of units/hour that was calculated in step 1 (50 units/1mL). This will give you the infusion rate or mL/hour.