Question

Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is available in 500mg caplets. Your patient may receive a maximum of 4g of Tylenol per day. How many caplets can the patient receive per day?

Please use dimensional analysis to show how this answer is found

Answer 1

Maximum dose of Acetaminophen tablets to be given per day = 4g = 4x 1000 = 4000 mg

Available dose of Acetaminophen tablets = 500 mg/1tablet

MaximumTablets to be given per day = 1tab $\div$ 500 mg x 4000 mg $\div$ 1

Cancel both mg in numerator and denominator and multiply the rest

Maximum Tablets to be given per day = 4000 tab $\div$ 500

= 8 tablets