A healthcare provider prescribes 1,000 mL of lactated Ringer's solution to infuse intraven… — NCLEX-RN

A healthcare provider prescribes 1,000 mL of lactated Ringer's solution to infuse intravenously over 8 hours. The manual intravenous (IV) administration set delivers 15 drops per milliliter (gtt/mL). Which of the following represents the correct drip rate for this infusion? (Round the final answer to the nearest whole number).

31 gtt/minAnswer
B
125 gtt/min
C
21 gtt/min
D
42 gtt/min

Answer

31 gtt/min

To calculate the correct manual IV drip rate, use the formula:

\frac{\text{Volume} \times \text{Drop Factor}}{\text{Time in minutes}}

. First, convert the 8-hour infusion time to 480 minutes. Next, calculate:

\frac{1000 \text{ mL} \times 15 \text{ gtt/mL}}{480 \text{ minutes}} = 31.25

. Because partial drops cannot be administered manually, round

31.25

to the nearest whole number, resulting in

31

gtt/min.

Step-by-Step Solution

Determine the total volume to be infused and convert the prescribed infusion time from hours into minutes.

Total Volume =

1,000

mL. Total Time =

8 \times 60 = 480

minutes.

The standard IV manual drip rate formula requires the time variable to be expressed in minutes.

Apply the standard IV drip rate formula:

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

\frac{1000 \times 15}{480}

This formula calculates the exact number of drops that must fall per minute to deliver the total fluid volume over the prescribed duration.

Perform the calculation and round the result to the nearest whole number.

\frac{15000}{480} = 31.25

. Rounded to the nearest whole number is

31

gtt/min.

Manual IV drip rates can only be administered as whole drops.

Key Concept

Intravenous (IV) manual flow rate calculation

Question

Answer

Step-by-Step Solution

Key Concept

Common Mistakes

Topics

More questions from this topic