Question

Complete the following table: Order 500 ml NaCl 0.9% IV over 12 hrs. 750 ml DSW IV over 8 hrs. Flow rate (gtt/min) Drop factor 15 gtt/ml 10 gtt/ml 15 gtt/ml 1,000 ml 0.45% NaCl IV over 12 hrs.

Answer 1

The Flow rate (gtt/min) has to be calculated for the given set of questions. For the sake of easy calculation, let the flow rate be X. The formula given below would be used to solve all the three questions,

Flow rate (gtt/min) = X = Volume (in mL) / Time (in mins) * Drop Factor (gtt/ml)

1) Given,

Order- 500ml NaCl 0.9% IV over 12 hours, here the volume is already in mL hence only the time needs to be converted to mins.

12 hours= (12*60)= 720 minutes

Drop Factor- 15 gtt/ml

X= (500/720) * 15= 0.6944 * 15= 10.41 gtt/min

Flow rate= 10.41 gtt/min

2) Given,

Order- 750 ml D5W IV over 8 hours. Volume is already in ml hence only time needs to be converted to mins

8 hours= 8*60= 480 minutes

Drop Factor- 10 gtt/ml

X= (750/480) * 10= 1.5625 * 10= 15.625 gtt/min

Flow rate= 15.625 gtt/min

3) Given,

Order- 1000 ml of 0.45% NaCl IV over 12 hours, here the volume is already in ml and we already calculated 12 hours to minutes which is 720 minutes

Drop Factor- 15 gtt/ml

X= (1000/720) * 15= 1.38888 * 15= 20.8333 gtt/min

Flow rate= 20.8333 gtt/min