A doctor prescribes 10 ml of medication to a patient. How many teaspoons should the nurse give to the patient?

Appeared in: AIIMS Rishikesh NO - 2019

Explanation

The standard medical and household conversion factor is that 1 teaspoon (tsp) is equivalent to 5 milliliters (ml).
The physician's prescription is for a total volume of 10 ml.
To convert the total volume from ml to teaspoons, the nurse must divide the prescribed ml by the number of ml in one teaspoon.
The calculation is: 10 ml ÷ 5 ml/tsp = 2 tsp.

Option A: 1 tsp is equivalent to 5 ml. Administering only 1 tsp would result in underdosing the patient by half.
Option C: 3 tsp is equivalent to 15 ml (3 tsp × 5 ml/tsp). This would be an overdose of 5 ml.
Option D: 4 tsp is equivalent to 20 ml (4 tsp × 5 ml/tsp). This would double the prescribed dose, leading to a significant overdose.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: Use the key finding related to Medication dosage calculation and unit conversion (ml to tsp) to guide bedside assessment, documentation, and the next nursing action.
Accurate dosage calculation is a fundamental patient safety competency for nurses. It prevents underdosing (leading to therapeutic failure) or overdosing (leading to toxicity and adverse effects).
Nurses must educate patients and their families on correct measurement techniques for liquid medications at home, advising against using household cutlery (which varies in size) and recommending calibrated measuring devices like oral syringes or medicine cups.
What if? If the prescription was for 1.5 tsp, the nurse would convert this to 7.5 ml (1.5 x 5 ml) and use a calibrated oral syringe to draw up the precise amount, as a measuring spoon would be inaccurate for a half-teaspoon measurement.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the key information provided: the prescribed dose is 10 ml, and the required unit for the answer is teaspoons (tsp).
Recall the standard conversion factor between milliliters and teaspoons used in medication administration.
The essential conversion to remember is: 1 teaspoon = 5 milliliters.
Set up a simple division to find the answer: (Total volume in ml) ÷ (Volume of one teaspoon in ml).
Perform the calculation: 10 ÷ 5 = 2.
Select the option that matches the calculated result.

Concept Tested & Keywords

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E6 Nursing Fundamentals Taylor p. 848-850

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