A client is prescribed a drug as 0.3 mcg, q4h. Calculate the dose of the medicine per day.

The infusion will be completed at 3:15 p.m.

This answer is correct because it is based on a simple division and addition calculation. The nurse should follow these steps to determine when the infusion will be completed:

1) Convert the volume of the fluid from liters to milliliters by multiplying by 1000, since there are 1000 mL in 1 L. The volume of the fluid is 750 mL.

2) Divide the volume of the fluid by the infusion rate to get the duration of the infusion in hours, as follows:

750 mL / 120 mL/hr = 6.25 hr

Therefore, the infusion will take 6.25 hours to complete.

3) Add the duration of the infusion to the start time of the infusion to get the end time, as follows:

9:00 a.m. + 6:25 = 3:15 p.m.

Therefore, the infusion will be completed at 3:15 p.m.

This numeric form is appropriate, according to the Joint Commission, because it does not use a trailing zero after a decimal point, which is a common cause of medication errors and should be avoided. A trailing zero may be misread or misinterpreted as a larger dose or omited altogether, resulting in a 10-fold overdose or underdose, respectively. For example, when prescriptions have been writen for "Coumadin 1.0 mg," patients have received 10 mg in error¹². Therefore, the Joint Commission requires that a trailing zero may be used only when required to demonstrate the level of precision of the value being reported, such as for laboratory results, imaging studies that report the size of lesions, or catheter/tube sizes. It may not be used in medication orders or other medication-related documentation.

The other options are not appropriate numeric forms because:

a) 3.0 uses a trailing zero after a decimal point, which poses a risk of confusion or error.

b) 0.30 uses a trailing zero after a decimal point, which poses a risk of confusion or error.

c) 0.03 is not equivalent to 0.3, as it is 10 times smaller.