Question

The physician orders an IV infusion of D5W 500 mL to infuse over the next 6 hours. The IV tubing that you are using delivers 20 gtt/mL. The nurse should adjust the flow rate at________ gtt/min. Write your answer as a whole number without decimals. Do not include units of measurement in your answer. Use correct math rules when rounding. For example, if 0.5 or above, round up. If less than 0.5, round down.

Answer 1

To calculate the IV infusion flow rate, multiply the total volume by the drop factor to get the number of drops, then divide by the total infusion time in minutes. The correct flow rate would be 28 gtt/min after rounding to the nearest whole number.

Step-by-step explanation:

Calculating IV Infusion Flow Rate:

The question requires us to calculate the flow rate for an IV infusion of D5W 500 mL to be administered over 6 hours, with an IV tubing delivery rate of 20 gtt/mL. To find the flow rate in gtt/min, use the following steps:

• Calculate the total number of drops: Total Volume (mL) x Drop Factor (gtt/mL).
• Calculate the total number of minutes: Hours x 60.
• Divide the total number of drops by the total number of minutes to find gtt/min.

Let's calculate:

1. Total number of drops = 500 mL x 20 gtt/mL = 10000 gtt.
2. Total number of minutes = 6 hours x 60 minutes/hour = 360 min.
3. Flow rate = 10000 gtt / 360 min = 27.78 gtt/min.

After rounding to the nearest whole number, the nurse should adjust the flow rate to 28 gtt/min.