If a physician orders 10 mg of a drug and the concentration available is 5 mg/mL, how many mL will the nurse need to administer?

To determine the volume of medication the nurse needs to administer, you can use the formula that relates dose, concentration, and volume:

Volume (mL) = Dose (mg) / Concentration (mg/mL).

In this scenario, the physician has ordered a dose of 10 mg, and the concentration available is 5 mg/mL. Plugging these values into the formula gives:

Volume (mL) = 10 mg / 5 mg/mL = 2 mL.

This means that to deliver the required dose of 10 mg, the nurse must administer 2 mL of the medication.