nerd alert

one of my favorite nuggets of work-related knowledge is how to calculate and wisely choose a glucose infusion rate (GIR). i think it is mostly because i have mastered its use and i know many other doctors haven't. it is, quite admittedly, a matter of pride.

i calculate it regularly using the formula i keep memorized in my noggin, that is,

GIR = [(D%) x rate]/ [wt x 6]

which is really quite simple as it is a fraction in its fully reduced form. but every time i calculate a GIR, and i mean every time, i think about how i haven't learned by heart the derivation of the equation. no, it doesn't matter. but i think about it.

knowing that GIR is in units of mg/kg/min, then i'm sure i could derive the equation by simple stoichiometry. i've just never gotten around to it.

fine.

GIR mg/kg/min =

{[(g dextrose/100 mL IVF) x (1000 mg/1 g)] x [(mL IVF/hr) x (1 hr/60 min)]}/ wt in kg

well foo. as simple as that is, why do some of the various versions of the same formula (just not reduced) have the number 1440 in them? oh, wait, is it figuring off of a total fluids per day thing? well who would do that considering that the total fluids a baby is getting often includes some feeds and some lipid infusions and meds and sometimes even a separate KVO fluid? that just wouldn't make sense, now would it?

why blog this? because i'm at work having my dinner which is a plate of insanely loaded fries (chili, cheese, and two different types of seasoned salt) and a coke in the wee hours of the morning which is insane enough as it is, and i like to do things while i eat, and because i was thinking about GIR for a patient. also i was thinking about how this one friend of mine, emily, keeps blogging about metronomes and about how she got a rude e-mail about how no one wants to read about metronomes which just fuels her fire to keep posting about them. after all, oughtn't one be able to blog about whatever one wants (so long as it doesn't violate ToC, of course)? i am joining her cause by posting about something no one wants to read about. but her posts are at least entertaining. mine is straight-up nerdy.

HA!