A nurse is preparing to administer 400 mL of 0.9% sodium chloride IV over 8 hours

A nurse is preparing to administer 400 mL of 0.9% sodium chloride IV over 8 hours.

The drop factor of the manual IV tubing is 60 gtt/mL.

The nurse should set the manual IV infusion to deliver how many gtt/min? (Round the answer to the nearest whole number.

Use a leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.).

The correct answer and Explanation is :

To determine the IV infusion rate in gtt/min, follow these steps:

1. Calculate the Total Number of Drops Needed:

• The drop factor of the IV tubing is 60 gtt/mL. This means that 1 mL of fluid will be delivered as 60 drops.
• You need to administer 400 mL of solution. Therefore, the total number of drops is:
  [
  \text{Total drops} = \text{Volume (mL)} \times \text{Drop factor (gtt/mL)}
  ]
  [
  \text{Total drops} = 400 \, \text{mL} \times 60 \, \text{gtt/mL} = 24,000 \, \text{gtt}
  ]

1. Determine the Duration in Minutes:

• The total duration for administering the fluid is 8 hours. Convert this time into minutes:
  [
  \text{Total minutes} = 8 \, \text{hours} \times 60 \, \text{minutes/hour} = 480 \, \text{minutes}
  ]

1. Calculate the Drop Rate (gtt/min):

• To find the number of drops per minute, divide the total number of drops by the total number of minutes:
  [
  \text{Drop rate (gtt/min)} = \frac{\text{Total drops}}{\text{Total minutes}}
  ]
  [
  \text{Drop rate (gtt/min)} = \frac{24,000 \, \text{gtt}}{480 \, \text{minutes}} = 50 \, \text{gtt/min}
  ]

Explanation:

1. Total Drops Calculation:
   The total number of drops required is found by multiplying the volume of the fluid (400 mL) by the drop factor (60 gtt/mL). This gives us the total amount of drops needed for the infusion.
2. Time Conversion:
   Since the infusion is to be given over 8 hours, converting hours into minutes is necessary to match the time unit with the drop rate calculation.
3. Drop Rate Calculation:
   Dividing the total drops by the total infusion time in minutes gives us the infusion rate in drops per minute. This tells you how fast to set the manual IV to ensure the correct volume is delivered over the specified time.

In this case, the manual IV infusion should be set to deliver 50 gtt/min.