Question

You wish to give a patient 1.2 liters of fluid in 8 hours. If this is done at a constant rate, how many cc (cubic centimeters) must be given per minute? Answer to one decimal place.

Answer 1

To administer 1.2 liters of fluid over 8 hours at a constant rate, the flow rate must be 2.5 cc/minute after converting liters to cubic centimeters and calculating the rate based on total time in minutes.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the flow rate of fluid to be given to a patient in cubic centimeters (cc) per minute, we will first need to convert the volume from liters to cubic centimeters. The desired fluid volume is 1.2 liters, and since one liter is equivalent to 1000 cubic centimeters, the total volume in cubic centimeters is 1.2 liters × 1000 = 1200 cc.

Next, we need to calculate the total number of minutes over which the fluid will be administered: 8 hours × 60 minutes/hour = 480 minutes.

To find the rate in cubic centimeters per minute, we divide the total volume in cubic centimeters by the total time in minutes:

Flow rate = Total volume (in cc) / Total time (in minutes)

Flow rate = 1200 cc / 480 minutes = 2.5 cc/minute

Therefore, the flow rate must be 2.5 cc/minute to give the patient 1.2 liters of fluid over 8 hours.