Question

a primary health care provider prescribes an IV infusion of 1000 mL 0.9% sodium chloride to be followed by 1000 mL D5W with 20 mEq of potassium chloride. the infusion is to be administered at 125 mL/hr. the drop factor of the IV tubing states 10 drops/mL. to how many drops per minute should the nurse set the IV infusion?

Answer 1

The IV infusion rate should be set to approximately 20.8 drops per minute, typically rounded to 21 drops per minute. Additionally, preparing a precise IV solution concentration commonly involves performing a dilution calculation, not just retrieving a pre-made IV bag from the supply.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question involves calculation for an intravenous (IV) medication administration, specifically concerning the adjustment of drops per minute for an IV infusion. To determine the IV infusion rate in drops per minute, we can use the following formula: (infusion rate in mL/hr) × (drop factor in gtts/mL) / 60 minutes. In this scenario, the infusion rate is 125 mL/hr, and the drop factor is 10 drops/mL. The calculation will be as follows: (125 mL/hr × 10 drops/mL) / 60 minutes, resulting in approximately 20.8 drops per minute, which would typically be rounded to 21 drops per minute.

Regarding the preparation of a specialized IV solution, it is unlikely that a health aide would take a ready-to-use IV bag with the exact concentration needed for a patient. Instead, the aide would likely perform a dilution calculation to create the correct concentration from a stock solution. This process involves using a syringe to draw the correct volume of stock solution and injecting it into a sterile IV bag with a diluted solution, to achieve the desired concentration, as referenced in the provided background information.