A patient has been prescribed a 2-week course of antifungal suppositories for a vaginal yeast infection.
She asks the nurse if there is an alternative to this medication, stating, “I don’t want to do this for 2 weeks!” What could be a possible alternative in this situation?

The question is about calculating the volume of phenytoin oral solution that the nurse should administer per dose. The client is prescribed 250 mg of phenytoin and the available solution has a concentration of 25 mg/5 mL.

Let’s calculate the volume step by step:

Step 1: Identify the prescribed dose and the concentration of the available medication. The prescribed dose is 250 mg and the concentration of the available medication is 25 mg/5 mL.

Step 2: Set up the calculation. We want to find out how many mL correspond to the prescribed dose. We can set up the calculation as follows: (Prescribed dose ÷ Concentration) × Volume.

Step 3: Substitute the known values into the calculation. This gives us: (250 mg ÷ 25 mg/5 mL).

Step 4: Perform the division operation first due to the order of operations (BIDMAS/BODMAS). This gives us: (250 mg ÷ 5 mg/mL).

Step 5: Perform the final calculation. This gives us: 50 mL.

So, the nurse should administer 50 mL of the phenytoin oral solution per dose.

Please note that this calculation assumes that the prescribed dose (250 mg) is to be administered in one go. If the dose is to be split over the day, the volume to be administered would change accordingly.

Choice A rationale:

Acyclovir is an antiviral medication used to treat infections caused by certain types of viruses. It is primarily used for the treatment of herpes simplex virus infections, chickenpox, and shingles. However, it is not typically used as an anti-HIV drug.

Choice B rationale:

Ribavirin is an antiviral medication used to treat hepatitis C and certain other viral infections. While it has broad-spectrum antiviral activity, it is not specifically used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Choice C rationale:

Foscarnet is an antiviral medication used to treat or prevent cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in individuals with AIDS. It is also used to treat cold sores and genital herpes. However, it is not the first-line choice for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Choice D rationale:

Zidovudine, also known as AZT, is an antiretroviral medication used to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. It is generally safe for use during pregnancy and is commonly used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV12. It works by inhibiting the reverse transcriptase enzyme, thereby blocking viral replication. The use of Zidovudine and other antiretroviral drugs in pregnant women with HIV has significantly reduced the rate of mother-to-child transmission of the virus.