Question

An emergency room doctor prescribes a certain pain medication to be delivered through an IV drip. She prescribes 800 mL of the medication to be delivered over the course of 8 hours. The IV delivers 1 mL of medication over the course of 30 drips. How many drips per minute are needed to deliver the prescribed dosage?

Answer 1

The number of drips per minute needed to deliver the medication at the prescribed dosage is 50 drips per minute

Explanation:

The given parameters are;

The volume of the prescribed medication to delivered through IV = 800 mL

The duration over which the drug is to be delivered = 8 hours

The rate at which the IV delivers the medication = 30 drips/1 mL

800 mL = 800 × 1 mL

Therefore, the total number of drips in 800 mL= 800 mL × 30 drips/mL = 24,000 drips

The rate at which the drug is delivered = 800 mL/(8 hours) = 100 mL/hr = 100/60 mL/minute = 10/6 mL/minute

The total number of drips in 10/6 mL= 10/6 mL × 30 drips/mL = 50 drips

∴ The rate at which the medication needs to be delivered = 10/6 mL/minute = 50 drips/minute

The number of drips per minute needed to deliver the medication at the prescribed dosage of 800 mL/(8 hours) = 10/6 mL/minute = 50 drips per minute.