Question

A nurse wishes to administer 1,500 mL of an IV infusion to a client over a 12 hr period. If the administration set is calibrated to deliver 15 gtt/ mL, at what infusion rate should the solution be administered?

Answer 1

To administer 1,500 mL of an IV solution over 12 hours using an administration set calibrated at 15 gtt/mL, the infusion rate should be set to approximately 31.25 gtt/min.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student asks about calculating the infusion rate for an intravenous (IV) administered solution over a 12-hour period using an administration set calibrated at 15 gtt/mL. To determine the infusion rate, we need to use the formula:

Infusion rate (gtt/min) = (Volume (mL) × drop factor (gtt/mL)) / Infusion time (min)

Firstly, transform the infusion time from hours to minutes:

12 hours × 60 minutes/hour = 720 minutes

Then plug in the values to find the infusion rate:

(1500 mL × 15 gtt/mL) / 720 minutes = 31.25 gtt/min

Therefore, the IV solution should be administered at an infusion rate of approximately 31.25 gtt/min.