Order: 1000 mL D5W 0.45% NS over 8 hours

Drop factor: 15gtts / mL
Calculate the flow rate. Show all work

1 answer

To calculate the flow rate, we need to determine the total number of drops needed to infuse 1000 mL of D5W 0.45% NS over 8 hours and then divide it by the total number of hours.

First, we need to convert 8 hours to minutes:

8 hours × 60 minutes/hour = 480 minutes

Next, we need to determine the total number of drops used to infuse 1000 mL. We can use the drop factor:

Total number of drops = 1000 mL × 15 gtts/mL
Total number of drops = 15000 gtts

Finally, we divide the total number of drops (15000 gtts) by the total number of minutes (480 minutes) to calculate the flow rate:

Flow rate = 15000 gtts ÷ 480 min
Flow rate = 31.25 gtts/min

So, the flow rate is 31.25 gtts/min.