Dopamine Drip calculation

[FireEMT2009]

After talking to a very respected medic in the company, they taught me an easy way to calculate a dopamine drip for a patient as long as you are using the standard 1600mcg/ml bag (double the drips for a 800mcg/ml bag). For every 5kg you add 1 drop. so a patient weighing 100kg would get 20gtt/min at 5mcg/kg/min. (I worked the math out myself and it works perfectly). Just thought someone might appreciate that sometime or another, I know I did.

[romneyfor2012]

Although there is nothing wrong with doing the above, I prefer to be exact, because I used to work on a neonatal transport team, where we would frequently make the concentration of drugs much higher to reduce the amount of drops that had to be delivered, in that situation you could not "spit-ball" the dosages, so here is an easy way to be exact:

Multiply everything together and divide by the concentration:

Mcgs you want to deliver x Patient KG x 60 / concentration

So if you want to deliver 10mcg to a 50kg patient, 10x50x60= 30,000 / 1600 = 18.75

This formula works for all dosages and all concentrations, and you will amaze everyone as most charts round up 1-2 drops.

[FireEMT2009]

Yea if im setting up a med drip i use the Dosage needed to be given, times, drop set, divided by concentration like you stated earlier. I use my calculator usually so my drops are correct because I have alot of trouble working with big numbers in my head, and usually if I'm doing a drip like dopamine I don't have time to get a piece of paper and pencil to write it out.

[Just Plain Ruff]

So just how do you measure a .75 drops without a pump

[DwayneEMTP]

...in that situation you could not "spit-ball" the dosages, so here is an easy way to be exact:...

Except for those rare folks that have pumps it's always 'spit balled' though, right?

Yea if im setting up a med drip i use the Dosage needed to be given, times, drop set, divided by concentration like you stated earlier. I use my calculator usually so my drops are correct because I have alot of trouble working with big numbers in my head, and usually if I'm doing a drip like dopamine I don't have time to get a piece of paper and pencil to write it out.

Brother where you do work as a volly EMT/medic student that you're setting up these kinds of drips, particularly Dopamine?

Dwayne

[FireEMT2009]

Except for those rare folks that have pumps it's always 'spit balled' though, right?

Brother where you do work as a volly EMT/medic student that you're setting up these kinds of drips, particularly Dopamine?

Dwayne

My preceptors have made me in clinical calculate drip rates for the drips we start after the doctor has ordered them. When I am back home working I have at least a 45 minute ETA to the closest hospital. Most times it is longer than that. I have always had trouble with dopamine calculations so I thought that I would start this post to see what people thought about it and possibly help someone out in the long run. (The hospital I did my clinicals at had pumps we used for drips but our preceptors wanted to challenge us because we don't have pumps in our units where I'm doing my externs). I am 2 and a half hours away from my hometown for college. Where I am now I am only around 15 minutes or so from the hospital.

[triemal04]

Quick way I learned initially: (dose x kg)/25=gtts/min. Dose being where you are on that 5-20 scale. This only works with a 1600mcg/ml concentraion and a 60gtt/ml dripset, but it is pretty handy. Nice thing is, if you are using a pump, with a 60 set, drops/min is the same a ml/hr (if that's one of the settings on your pump; is on mine). Of course, this may be pretty accurate, but it is still just an estimate; if you're doing more than eyeballing it, you should try and be a bit more accurate.

[P_Instructor]

Another version of the original poster's formula can be used if you are having trouble figuring out weight in kilo's. Just ask the patient's weight. Using the same concentration of dopamine, and only for dose of 5mcgs/min, take the weight and then subtract 2 from the tens column. This will give you a very close drip rate for 5 mcgs.

Example: Patient states weighs 240 pounds. With the 24, subtract 2 making it 22. This is what you set your drip rate (60gtt set) to, 22 gtts a minute.

[romneyfor2012]

My way works on all concentrations, and yes I have a pump, if I did not I would demand dial-a-flows. We should not administer dopamine without one.

[AZCEP]

10% of pt's weight in pounds = roughly 5 mcg/kg/min. Quick and easy when using a 1600 mcg/mL mix. If I need it in a hurry, I go this route. When time is allowed for more accurate calculations, I'll work the whole thing out on paper. Of course, I've never been granted the blessing of having a "working" pump for this situations either.