Final answer:
For a 4-year-old child NPO and receiving IV therapy at 20.5Kg, approximately 84ml/hr is needed to meet daily fluid requirements. A 3-year-old child at 17.2Kg should drink approximately 452ml over a 4-hour period to determine if he is "drinking well."
Step-by-step explanation:
Calculating Daily Fluid Requirements for Pediatric Patients
To calculate the daily intravenous (IV) therapy fluid requirements for a 4-year-old child weighing 20.5Kg, one can use the standard pediatric fluid requirements. For a child in this age range, daily fluid needs are typically 100ml/kg for the first 10kg of body weight, then 50ml/kg for the next 10kg, and finally 20ml/kg for the remaining body weight. Therefore, the calculation would be (100ml/kg x 10kg) + (50ml/kg x 10kg) + (20ml/kg x 0.5kg) which totals to 1500ml + 500ml + 10ml = 2010ml per day. To find the mls per hour, divide by 24, yielding approximately 84ml/hr (rounded to a whole number).
For a 3-year-old child weighing 17.2Kg, the first step is to calculate the total daily fluid requirement similar to above, which would be (100ml/kg x 10kg) + (50ml/kg x 7.2kg) = 1000ml + 360ml = 1360ml per day. Since the child is awake for roughly 12 hours, this would equate to about 113ml per hour (1360ml/12 hours). To determine the amount of fluid the child should drink over a 4-hour period to evaluate if he is "drinking well," multiply the hourly rate by 4, which results in 452ml (rounded to a whole number).