If a patient is prescribed metoprolol 37.5 mg and the pharmacy provides 25-mg tablets, how many tablets should be administered?

To determine the number of tablets needed to achieve a total dose of 37.5 mg when provided with 25-mg tablets, you first need to calculate how the dosage can be met with the available tablet form.

Each 25-mg tablet provides a fraction of the required dose. By taking one tablet, the patient would receive 25 mg. To achieve the desired dose of 37.5 mg, an additional dose is necessary. The additional requirement can be calculated as follows:

1. Starting with the total required dose of 37.5 mg, subtract the amount provided by one tablet (25 mg).

2. This leaves a remainder of 12.5 mg needed to reach the target dose.

3. Since each tablet is 25 mg, half of a tablet would yield 12.5 mg (25 mg / 2 = 12.5 mg).

Therefore, the patient should take 1 full tablet plus 0.5 of another tablet to come close to the 37.5 mg required dose. This means that in total, the patient should take 1.5 tablets to achieve the correct dosage.

Thus, selecting 1.5 tablets aligns perfectly with the appropriate administration of metoprolol