Question

Nurse is preparing to administer 500mg by intermittent IV bolus every 8 hours. Available is 500mg in 50mL NaCl to infuse over 15 minutes. The nurse should set the IV pump to deliver how many ml/hr?

Answer 1

The nurse should set the IV pump to deliver 200 mL/hr, calculated by dividing the total volume of 50mL by ½ hour, and then multiplying by 2 to get the rate in mL/hr.

Step-by-step explanation:

The nurse should set the IV pump to deliver 200 mL/hr. To calculate this, we consider the total volume to be infused which is 50mL, and the time over which it needs to be infused, which is 15 minutes. Since infusion pumps are calibrated in mL/hr, we need to convert the 15 minutes into hours. 15 minutes is ⅔ of an hour (½ hour). Therefore, we calculate the rate as:

Flow rate (mL/hr) = Total volume (mL) ÷ Time (hours)

Flow rate (mL/hr) = 50 mL ÷ ½ hour = 100 mL/hr × 2 = 200 mL/hr

The nurse thus sets the pump at 200 mL/hr to ensure the medication is delivered properly over the 15-minute period.