An older adult client is admitted to the medical-surgical unit with dehydration and orthos… — NCLEX-PN

An older adult client is admitted to the medical-surgical unit with dehydration and orthostatic hypotension. The client's blood pressure is $98/60\text{ mm Hg}$ and heart rate is $112\text{ beats/minute}$ . The healthcare provider prescribes a continuous intravenous (IV) infusion of $0.9\%$ sodium chloride $1,000\text{ mL}$ to infuse over $8\text{ hours}$ . The available IV administration set has a drop factor of $15\text{ drops/mL}$ .

How many drops per minute (gtt/min) will the practical nurse regulate the IV flow rate to deliver? Record your answer to the nearest whole number. Do not include units in answer.

Answer: 31 gtt/min

Answer

To safely regulate the IV gravity infusion, the practical nurse must determine the drops per minute. This is achieved by multiplying the total fluid volume (

1,000\text{ mL}

) by the tubing drop factor (

15\text{ gtt/mL}

) to find the total number of drops. That sum (

15,000\text{ drops}

) is then divided by the total infusion time in minutes (

480\text{ minutes}

). The resulting mathematical value is

31.25

, which must be rounded to the nearest whole number, giving a final rate of

31\text{ gtt/min}

Step-by-Step Solution

Convert the prescribed infusion time from hours to minutes.

8\text{ hours} \times 60\text{ minutes/hour} = 480\text{ minutes}

The gravity IV drip rate formula requires the total time to be expressed in minutes.

Set up the IV drip rate formula.

\text{Drip Rate} = \frac{\text{Total Volume (mL)} \times \text{Drop Factor (gtt/mL)}}{\text{Total Time (minutes)}}

This is the mathematical standard for determining gravity infusion flow rates.

Substitute the given values into the formula and calculate the unrounded rate.

\frac{1,000 \times 15}{480} = \frac{15,000}{480} = 31.25\text{ gtt/min}

Performing the multiplication and division operations yields the exact mathematical delivery rate.

Round the result to the nearest whole number.

31.25

rounds down to

31

Because standard IV tubing cannot deliver a fraction of a drop, the calculated rate must be rounded to the nearest whole drop.

Key Concept

Calculating IV flow rates for gravity infusions requires converting the total prescribed time into minutes and applying the administration set's drop factor to determine the required drops per minute.

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