Question

A medication is prepared in 150mL of an IV solution. It is infusing at 20 drops per minute. The drop factor of the infusion set is 18gtt/mL. What is the infusion time in minutes? Round your answer to the nearest minute.

Answer 1

We are given that 150 mL of an IV has a drop factor of 18gtt/mL or 18 drops per millimeter. This means that 18 drops are required to infuse 1 millimeter of solution. Therefore, multiplying by the total volume we can get the total number of drops required:

`18(drops)/(mL)*500mL=9000drops`

Therefore, 9000 drops are required. Now, we are given that the solution is infusing at 20 drops per minute. Therefore, to determine the number of minutes we use the following rule of 3:

`\begin{gathered} 20\text{ drops}\rightarrow1minute \\ 9000drops\rightarrow x\text{ minutes} \end{gathered}`

Now, we cross multiply:

`(20drops)(x\text{ minutes\rparen=\lparen9000drops\rparen\lparen1minute\rparen}`

Dividing both sides by 20 drops:

`x=\frac{(9000drops)(1minute)}{(20\text{ drops\rparen}}`

Solving the operations:

`x=450minutes`

Therefore, the time required is 450 minutes.