Pharm Calculation help pls ......

[I♥NewYork]

Hi,

Can someone please confirm if I have worked this out ok, its an NVQ question .....

14yr old child, weighs 50kg and is 163cm tall - so his body surface according to the BNF is 1.5 metres squared (cant do the little 2 above the m to write it short hand !!)

Ok so far so good ....

prednisolone soluble tabs 5mg prescribed, initially
60mg/msquared once daily for 4wks and then on alternate days for 6wks.

28days = 4wks (4wks x 7days)
21days = 6wks on alternate days (6wks x 7days ÷ 2)

Calculate the total number of tabs that are required for the script (dose has been doubled checked and is above the max recommended dose, buts that ok as part of a clinical trial the questions says).

So, here goes my answer ......

60mg/metresquared so 60mg x 1.5metresquared = 90mg once daily which would be eighteen 5mg tablets.

90mg x 28days = 2520mg ÷ 5mg (as this is strength of tabs) = 504 tablets
90mg x 21days = 1890mg ÷ 5mg = 378 tablets

Total number of tabs to fulfill the script would be 882 tablets ??? seems like an awful lot so think I might have gone wrong somewhere possibly ??

Any advice, thanks ppl x

[Nik]

90mg/day for 4 weeks => 18 tabs/day for 28 days = 504 tabs

90mg/day for 6 weeks on alternate days (so 21 days) => 18 tabs/day for 21 days = 378 tabs

Total number of tabs = 882. Bit of a weird question but i've got the same answer. Anyone else ?

[johnep]

The square sign would be in superscript. Not available in choice of scripts here as far as I can tell.
johnep