Question

the primary health care provider prescribes 500 mL of D5W with 10 mEq of KCL to be administered over 10 hours. the IV tubing states that each mL delivers 60 gtts. to what rate per minute should the nurse adjust the flow rate of the intravenous solution?

Answer 1

The flow rate for 500 mL of D5W with 10 mEq of KCl to be infused over 10 hours, using IV tubing that delivers 60 drops per mL, should be adjusted to 50 drops per minute.

Step-by-step explanation:

Calculating IV Flow Rate

To calculate the flow rate in drops per minute (gtts/min) for an IV order of 500 mL of D5W with 10 mEq of KCl over 10 hours, we must first know the total amount of liquid to be infused and the time over which it will be infused. Here, the total volume is 500 mL, and the time frame is 10 hours. Since the IV tubing delivers 60 drops per mL, we need to use the following formula:

Flow rate (gtts/min) = (Total volume in mL × Drip factor in gtts/mL) / Time in minutes

Substitute the given values into the formula:

Flow rate (gtts/min) = (500 mL × 60 gtts/mL) / (10 hours × 60 minutes/hour)

Flow rate (gtts/min) = (30000 gtts) / (600 minutes)

Flow rate (gtts/min) = 50 gtts/min

Therefore, the nurse should adjust the flow rate of the intravenous solution to 50 drops per minute.