Basic Nursing 1st Edition by Judith Wilkinson, Leslie Treas

Exercise 16

Rebecca Jones (Meet Your Patients) received tramadol (Ultram) 50 mg for pain at 0800.The prescription allows her to have the drug every 6 hours. So at 1400, you give her another 50 mg. Ultram is metabolized in the liver and excreted mainly in the urine.
• When this medication reaches onset of action, about how much Ultram does Ms.Jones now have in her body?
• If the "normal" half-life of Ultram is 6 hours, you would expect Ms. Jones to still have about 25 mg of her first dose left in her body at the time of the second dose. Given her age, though, do you think she probably has more or less than 25 mg left at 6 hours? Why?