A nurse is preparing to administer lactated Ringer’s 100 mL/hr by continuous IV infusion. The drop factor of the manual IV tubing is 15 gtt/ml. The nurse should set the IV flow rate to deliver how many gtt/min? (Round the answer to the nearest whole number. Use a leading zero if it applies. De not use a trailing zero.)
The correct answer and Explanation is :
To determine the IV flow rate in gtt/min, follow these steps:
- Understand the Problem: The nurse needs to administer 100 mL/hr of Lactated Ringer’s solution through manual IV tubing with a drop factor of 15 gtt/mL. We need to convert the flow rate into gtt/min.
- Convert mL/hr to mL/min:
- There are 60 minutes in an hour. To find out how many milliliters are administered per minute, divide the total milliliters per hour by 60.
- ( \text{Rate in mL/min} = \frac{100 \text{ mL/hr}}{60 \text{ min/hr}} \approx 1.67 \text{ mL/min} ).
- Calculate the Flow Rate in gtt/min:
- The drop factor of the tubing tells us how many drops are in one milliliter. In this case, the drop factor is 15 gtt/mL.
- Multiply the flow rate in mL/min by the drop factor to find the number of drops per minute.
- ( \text{Flow rate in gtt/min} = 1.67 \text{ mL/min} \times 15 \text{ gtt/mL} = 25.05 \text{ gtt/min} ).
- Round to the Nearest Whole Number:
- Rounding 25.05 to the nearest whole number gives us 25.
Therefore, the nurse should set the IV flow rate to deliver 25 gtt/min.
Explanation:
The process involves converting the hourly infusion rate to a per-minute rate and then applying the drop factor to convert that rate into the number of drops per minute. This ensures that the solution is delivered at the correct rate. The drop factor (15 gtt/mL) is crucial as it specifies how many drops are equivalent to one milliliter, which directly affects the calculation of the flow rate. Accurate flow rate calculation is essential for effective and safe patient care, ensuring that the prescribed volume of fluid is administered within the desired time frame.