Math Practice for Paramedic Students - Dose Calculation Practice

Sep 23, 2026

A sequence of paramedic practice questions focused on calculating medication doses and administering fluids safely using patient weight and prescribed drug concentrations and infusion rates. The problems cover multiple IV drug scenarios including etomidate, succinylcholine, vecuronium, nitroglycerine, diltiazem, epinephrine, lidocaine drips, furosemide, fentanyl, midazolam, diphenhydramine, romazicon, naloxone, and rescue or shock therapies such as dopamine. Many items require converting mg to mL, determining drops per minute for microdrip tubing under pump failure, and accounting for bag volumes and delivery over time.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Dose and Infusion Calculation Practice

Medication dosing by weight and concentration

Infusion rate conversions (mL/hr) and drops per minute

Syringe preparation and drip setup constraints

Math Practice for Paramedic Students 1. You are responsible for providing the proper dose of etomidate to your partner so that he can initiate the RSI procedure for your patient. The patient weighs an estimated 175 pounds. You are to draw up 0.3 mg/kg of etomidate into the appropriate syringe. How many mg are required? How many mL will you have to draw up? How many vials will be required? 2. Now the patient is asleep and you give to your partner the syringe of succinylcholine that you drew up, based upon the patient’s weight. The dose is 1.5 mg/kg. How many mg are required? How many mL did you put in the syringe? 3. Now it is time for the vecuronium to be administered to the previous patient. The dose is 0.01 mg/kg. How many mg are required? How many mL are in the syringe? 10 mg total drug. Concentration is 1 mg/mL. 4. You are going to be initiating a nitroglycerine drip in the field for a patient with a confirmed STEMI. You have your microdrip tubing prepared and are to start the drip at 15 mcg/min. Your patient says that he weighs about 180 pounds. How many mL per hour are necessary to satisfy this requirement? How many drops per minute are necessary if your pump breaks down? 5. You are responsible for starting a diltiazem drip, using microdrip tubing, for a 200 pound male patient who has had his heart rate controlled via a bolus of diltiazem several minutes ago. The protocol states that you are to mix 20 mg of diltiazem in a 150 mL bag of D5W and deliver it at a rate of 5 mg/hr. How many mL must be added to the bag from the vial? How many mL an hour will have to be delivered to the patient? How many drops per minute would be necessary if your pump were to fail? 6. You are resuscitating a patient who is in cardiac arrest with a rhythm of ventricular fibrillation. You are responsible for all drug administration, so your first priority is the bolus of epinephrine that you deliver. Now you need to administer 1.5 mg/kg of lidocaine, as that is the only antidysrhythmic that your service currently stocks. How many mg are necessary for your patient who weighs 270 pounds? How many preloaded syringes are necessary to satisfy this requirement? 7. Your patient from above is resuscitated after a couple of rounds of drug therapy, and you now must start a lidocaine drip at 3 mg/min, using microdrip tubing. How many mL per hour are necessary to satisfy this order? How many drops per minute are necessary if the pump fails? 8. You have a patient who is presenting with an exacerbation of congestive heart failure. After the administration of nitroglycerine you decide to give the patient furosemide at a dose that is twice that of his daily dose. The patient normally takes 40 mg of furosemide daily. How many mg will you give to the patient? How many mL will you draw up from the vial? 9. You are treating a patient who has a possible broken hip and you wish to provide the patient with some pain relief. You decide that the best course of action would be to deliver 75 mcg offentanyl. How many mL will you deliver? 10. Your patient from above is not tolerating the situation very well, and you decide that she would be best served to forget the entire ordeal. You decide that 2 mg of Versed would be in order. How many mL will you draw up and deliver to the patient? 11. Your patient from above starts to break out in hives and you wish to administer some diphenhydramine, at a dose of 26 mg (not realistic, but makes for a math problem!) . How many mL will you deliver? 12. This same patient is really having problems that you believe are associated with the administration of the Versed, so you decide to try to reverse its effects by administering some Romazicon. The dose is 0.2 mg. How many mL will you deliver? 13. Problems are still abound maybe it’s the fentanyl? You decide to administer 0.4 mg of naloxone. How many mL will you deliver? 14. You are working with a patient in cardiogenic shock and decide to initiate a dopamine

FAQs

How do you convert an ordered drug dose in mg/kg into total mg for a patient?

Multiply the ordered mg/kg value by the patient’s weight in kg to get the required total mg. Then use the stated concentration to convert mg to mL.

What steps are used to convert an infusion rate (mcg/min) into mL per hour?

Convert the ordered mcg/min rate into the corresponding mcg per hour, then use the medication concentration to translate that into mL per hour for the infusion.

How are drops per minute calculated for microdrip or drops-per-mL tubing when the pump fails?

Use the required flow rate (typically mL per hour) and the tubing factor (drops per mL, such as microdrip or 45 gtts/mL) to compute drops per minute.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Maya Linwood

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