Question

A nurse is to irrigate a wound every 8 hours with 60mL of 1/4 strength solution. How many mL of the concentrate will she need for

24hrs?
a) 30 mL
b) 40 mL
c) 45 mL
d) 60 mL

Answer 1

The nurse will need 45 mL of concentrate to prepare a 1/4 strength solution to irrigate a wound every 8 hours for 24 hours, calculating based on the volume of the diluted solution needed per irrigation and the frequency of irrigation.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the amount of concentrate needed for a 1/4 strength solution, we need to determine how much concentrate is present in 60 mL of solution, and then multiply by the number of times the irrigation is performed in 24 hours.

Since the solution is 1/4 strength, this means the concentrate makes up 1 part and the solvent 3 parts of the total solution. So for every 4 mL of the solution, 1 mL is the concentrate. Therefore, in 60 mL of solution, there is 15 mL of concentrate (60 mL ÷ 4 = 15 mL).

Irrigating every 8 hours means the nurse will irrigate 3 times in 24 hours (24 hours ÷ 8 hours = 3 times). Hence, the total amount of concentrate used in 24 hours is:
15 mL (per irrigation) × 3 (times) = 45 mL of concentrate.

The correct answer is c) 45 mL of concentrate needed for 24 hours.