Vasopressor Dose to Rate Calculator
Convert a vasopressor dose order into a pump rate, or a pump rate back into a delivered dose.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Vasopressor
- dopamine
- Patient weight
- 70 kg
- Bag concentration
- 64 mcg/mL
- Dose to convert to a rate
- 0.1
- OR a pump rate (mL/hr) to convert back to a dose
- 6.56
Result: Dopamine at 0.1 mcg/kg/min, 70 kg, 64 mcg/mL: ~6.56 mL/hr (forward); 6.56 mL/hr -> ~0.1 mcg/kg/min (reverse).
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What you enter
- Vasopressor
- Bag concentration
- Dose to convert to a rate (in the drug units: mcg/min, mcg/kg/min, or units/min)
- OR a pump rate (mL/hr) to convert back to a dose
- Patient weight (required for mcg/kg/min drugs)
What this is
Sophie Well handles the common ICU agents - norepinephrine, epinephrine, phenylephrine, dopamine, vasopressin, dobutamine - with their conventional dose units (mcg/kg/min for the catecholamines, mcg/min or units/min for the fixed-dose pressors). Enter the agent, the bag concentration, and either the desired dose or the running rate, and the tool returns the missing side of the equation along with the dose-per-minute and the dose-per-kg-per-minute.
When to use it
Use this when admitting a transferred ICU patient whose previous pump was running at a rate without a documented dose, when titrating a pressor to a MAP goal and you want to see what each rate change actually delivers, or when a bag concentration changes mid-shift and you need to keep the dose constant across the swap. The math is deterministic; the clinical decision (which agent, which dose, when to add or escalate) lives with the bedside team and the active institutional protocol.
How this is calculated
Standard infusion math: rate (mL/hr) = (dose per min / concentration per mL) * 60.
Source: FDA vasopressor labels (subset)
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.
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