Final answer:
The nurse should set the IV drip rate to deliver Ringer's Lactate over 8 hours at 21 gtt/min using a drip factor of 10 gtt/ml. This calculation ensures the patient receives fluids at the correct rate to maintain electrolyte balance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The IV flow rate required for delivering 1 liter of Ringer's Lactate (LR) over 8 hours with a drip factor of 10 gtt/ml is a calculation often required in the health field. First, we need to convert liters to milliliters, knowing that 1 liter equals 1000 milliliters. Therefore, 1 liter is equivalent to 1000 mL. To deliver 1000 mL over 8 hours, we divide the total volume by the number of hours: 1000 mL / 8 hr = 125 mL/hr. Now, we must calculate how many drops per minute this equates to, given our drip factor of 10 gtt/mL. We multiply the flow rate by the drip factor: 125 mL/hr × 10 gtt/mL.
To find the rate in minutes, we convert hours to minutes by multiplying by 60 minutes/hr: 125 × 10 gtt/mL ÷ 60 min/hr = 20.83 gtt/min, which rounds to 21 gtt/min. This is the rate the nurse should set for the IV to deliver the prescribed fluid. Understanding IV drip rates is crucial in medicine to ensure that patients receive the correct amount of fluids, often to manage the balance of electrolytes in the body, as reflected in Ringer's Lactate's composition of various ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, and lactate.
Intravenous solutions like normal saline and lactated Ringer's solution are isotonic, which means they have a similar concentration of solutes as the body's fluids. This is important to prevent any osmotic effects that could cause fluids to shift in or out of cells, leading to cellular damage or dysfunction. Isotonic solutions help maintain the electrolyte balance in the patient's body, ensuring that the medications or fluids administered intravenously are effective and safe.