Question

A nurse is preparing to infuse 1 liter of 0.9% sodium chloride IV over 8 hr with a tubing set that delivers 15 gtts/mL. The nurse should set the manual IV infusion to deliver how many drops/min? (Round the answer to the nearest whole number. Use a leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.) Show your work to receive full credit.

Answer 1

To calculate the infusion rate in drops per minute (gtts/min), you can use the following formula:

Infusion rate (gtts/min) = (Volume in mL / Time in minutes) x Drop factor

In this case, the volume is 1 liter, which is equal to 1000 mL. The time is 8 hours, which you need to convert into minutes (8 hours x 60 minutes/hour = 480 minutes). The drop factor is 15 gtts/mL.

Now, plug these values into the formula:

Infusion rate (gtts/min) = (1000 mL / 480 minutes) x 15 gtts/mL

Calculate:

Infusion rate (gtts/min) = (1000 / 480) x 15

Infusion rate (gtts/min) ≈ 31.25

Rounded to the nearest whole number:

The nurse should set the manual IV infusion to deliver approximately 31 drops/min.