Answer :
Final answer:
To find the number of chloramphenicol capsules needed for a 187 lbs adult for a 10-day course, convert the weight to kilograms, calculate the total daily dose in mg, and divide it by the dosage per capsule. Then, multiply by the number of days to get the total number of capsules: approximately 170 capsules when rounded up.
Explanation:
The question involves calculating the total amount of medication required for a person based on their body weight and then determining how many capsules of a given dosage would be needed to meet this requirement.
To solve this, we first need to convert the patient's weight from pounds to kilograms, then calculate the total daily dose required in milligrams, and finally divide this by the dosage strength per capsule to find the number of capsules needed per day.
We then multiply by the number of days the medication is to be taken to find the total number of capsules required for the course of treatment.
- First, convert the weight from pounds to kilograms (1 pound = 0.453592 kilograms).
- Next, find the total daily dose by multiplying the weight in kilograms by the dose required per kilogram.
- Then, determine how many capsules are needed per day by dividing the total daily dose by the dosage per capsule.
- Finally, multiply the number of capsules needed per day by the duration of the treatment in days to get the total number of capsules.
In this case, the patient weighs 187 lbs, which is approximately 84.82 kg (187 lbs * 0.453592 kg/lb). The total daily dose required is 50 mg/kg/day, which equals 4241 mg/day (84.82 kg * 50 mg/kg).
Each capsule contains 250 mg of chloramphenicol, so the patient would need approximately 16.964 capsules per day (4241 mg/day / 250 mg/capsule).
Since we cannot give a fraction of a capsule, we would round up to 17 capsules per day. Over a 10-day course, the patient would therefore need 170 capsules (17 capsules/day * 10 days).
