Question

a nurse is preparing to administer levothyroxine 0.275 mg PO daily to a client. The amount available is levothyroxine 137mcg/tablet. how many tablets should the nurse administer?

Answer 1

• Dose of levothyroxine to be administered = 0.275mg
• Dose of levothyroxine available = 137 mcg / tablet.

We have to find how many tablets of levothyroxine has to be administered to the patient to get 0.275 mg PO daily.

• First we have to convert mcg ( microgram) to mg ( milligram ).
• We know 1000 mcg = 1mg.
• In order to convert mcg to mg, we have to divide the available value in mcg by 1000.
• That is, divide 137 mcg by 1000.
• 137 ÷ 1000 = 0.137 mg.
• Now, we know that the patient has to get 0.275 mg daily.
• So we have to sum 0.137 mg + 0.137 mg = 0.274. Which is approximately equal to 0.275.
• Thus we can round off 0.275 as 0.274.
• Therefore, the nurse must administer 2 tablets of levothyroxine PO daily to the patient to get 0.274 mg.

Note: The answer is 2 tablets of levothyroxine.