Which term describes the concentration of the active ingredient in a drug?

• A. Dosage Form
• B. Emergency Prescription
• C. Administering person
• D. Medication Strength

Answer: (D)

Medication Strength describes how much active drug is in each dose unit, such as per tablet or per milliliter. This is the figure you use to calculate how much to administer, because it directly tells you the amount of active ingredient a patient will receive with every dose. For a solid, a strength like 500 mg per tablet tells you each tablet contains 500 mg; for a liquid, a strength like 1 mg/mL tells you each milliliter has 1 mg of active drug. The other terms refer to the form of the drug (dosage form), who administers it (administering person), or a prescription document (emergency prescription), none of which specify the amount of active ingredient per dose.