Question

A patient receives 20,000 units of heparin in an IV bag, to be infused at 100 mL over 120 minutes. What is the flow rate of this medication?

a) 50 mL/hour

b) 100 mL/hour

c) 120 mL/hour

d) 150 mL/hour

Answer 1

The flow rate for an IV infusion of 100 mL of heparin over 120 minutes is 50 mL/hour, aligning with option (a). This is calculated by dividing the infusion volume by the infusion time after converting minutes to hours.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the flow rate of the medication heparin, we need to use the information given: the infusion volume is 100 mL to be administered over a period of 120 minutes. To find the flow rate in mL/hour, we use the following steps:

• Convert the infusion time from minutes to hours by dividing 120 minutes by 60 minutes per hour, which gives us 2 hours.
• Divide the total volume of the IV bag by the total time in hours to find the flow rate: 100 mL ÷ 2 hours = 50 mL/hour.

Therefore, the correct flow rate for this medication is 50 mL/hour, which corresponds to option (a).