Question

The patient is to receive 3 units of whole blood over the next 6 hours. Each unit contains 500ml. Using a drop factor of 10gtts/ml, determine the infusion rate.

Answer 1

To determine the infusion rate of whole blood over 6 hours, calculate the total volume to be infused and divide it by the time. Convert the infusion rate to drops per minute using the drop factor.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the infusion rate, we need to calculate the total volume of blood that needs to be infused over 6 hours. Since each unit of whole blood contains 500ml and the patient needs to receive 3 units, the total volume is 500ml x 3 = 1500ml.

To calculate the infusion rate, we divide the total volume by the time, which is 1500ml / 6 hours = 250ml/hour.

Since the drop factor is 10gtts/ml, we can convert the infusion rate to drops per minute by dividing 250ml/hour by 60 minutes/hour and then multiplying by the drop factor. The infusion rate in drops per minute is (250ml/hour / 60 minutes/hour) x 10gtts/ml = 41.67gtts/min, rounded to 42gtts/min.