2-25. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE VOLUME DETERMINATION
a. Patient's daily maintenance requirements.
b. Volume losses prior to therapy.
c. Concurrent losses; gastric suction, vomiting, or diarrhea.
d. Patient's metabolic requirements.
2-26. COMPUTING CONTINUOUS I.V. INFUSION RATES
a. I.V. Formula.
EXAMPLE #1:
The order is for D5 1/2NS 1000 ml to be infused over eight
hours. Calculate the infusion rate using an I.V. set calibrated
to deliver 20 gtts/ml.
Volume (ml) x drop factor (gtts/ml)
Time (minutes)
1000 ml x 20 gtts/ml
480
20,000 = 41.67 = 42 gtts/min.
480
NOTE: For I.V.'s, round off to the nearest whole number.
EXAMPLE #2: The patient is to receive 1000 ml of 0.45% sodium chloride
over the next 10 hours. The drop factor of the tubing is
15 gtts/ml. Determine the rate in gtts/min.
1000 ml x 15 gtts/ml
600 minutes
15,000 = 25 gtts/min.
600
EXAMPLE #3:
The order is to infuse D5 1/2NS at 125 ml/hr for the next
24 hours. The I.V. administration set is calibrated 20 gtts/ml.
Calculate the infusion rate.
MD0904
2-54