IV Infusion Time!! Please please help!!!!

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I know how to calculate infusion time easily when given ml/hr. But my instructor gave us practice problems where we had to calculate infusion times when given gtt/min. I am so lost on this. I don't even know where to start. I'm in Louisiana and we have been out of school since Wed. due to the hurricane and I have not been able to contact my instructor either. We are testing on this Tues. and I really need ASAP. Please!!!!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Welcome to AN The largest online nursing community!!!

It's ok..:hug:.....go to this site and you will get the help that you need. It's get and and just for students.

If you still need help come back with what you are confused on....I'll be back on in a few and can help you. It's gonna be ok.

I'm glad you are safe and dry.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Or here too......Drug Dose Calculations]

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Specializes in BMT, Oncology, LTC/SNF.

The only difference between figuring out ml/hr and gtt/min is one uses hours and one uses minutes *plus the drop factor*

The formula for ml/hr is: Total volume to be infused (say 2000 ml) / total time to be infused in hours (say 8 hours) = 250mls/hr. You have that one nailed you say.

Okay, gtt/min. The one difference with these questions will be that you will have to use one more component: the drop factor. If you use this equation, you use the drop factor. You may get the drop factor for ml/hr questions, but that's just pointless info. You learn to discern necessary info from questions. :)

So, this formula: Total volume to be infused (2000 ml) / total time to be infused in minutes (8 x 60min = 480min) = 4.1667 (don't round though. When using the calculator, just leave it and follow through the equation :D) You have your 4.166666 for this equation. Say the drop factor is 20 (gtt). Times (x) that drop factor by your division answer (4.16666666). Round to the nearest whole number, and you have your gtt/min. gtt means drop. :) So your answer is 83.333333, but you are doing drops. Drops have to be whole numbers. It would be 83 gtt/min. Granted, you probably wouldn't have that drop factor, but it was just an example out of my head.

Also, google is your best friend. Questions and help are out there. I hope you do well. Good luck :) *if you need further explanation, just ask. I'll check back up on this topic*

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Total volume to be infused X Drop factor divided by total time in minutes

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I have used all of these resources and I still can't figure out this one answer. I am really frustrated and worried..i don't know what I'm not getting. I need help. Here is the example.

The physician orders 500 mL of NS at 30 gtts/min. The drop factor is 15. How long will it take to infuse all the IV? If the infusion began at 2400, when will it be completed?

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Just took that test and got 95% on it(missed one question). I really wanna help you but I'm not sure if my answer is right.

This is how I calculated it :

First I wanna know how many ml it will infuse in an hour

It says it would infuse 30 gtts/min, we know that 1ml = 15 gtts that means it infuses 2ml/min. 2x60 to get 120ml/hr.

The next step is to figure out how long it's gonna take for 500ml to infuse.

Divide 500ml / 120ml = 4.2

4.2 = 4 hrs and 12 mins

Answer: 0412

Good luck. I hope this help even just a little.

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Yes yes yes!! That's helps a lot! Our SON gave us a list of conversions and equivalents to use but 15 gtts=1ml was not listed. So I didn't even know where to begin. Thanks a million!!!?

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

15gtts does not always equal 1ml.It depends on the drop rate of the administration set.Your question was confusing for you because it didn't say how many gtts in a ml.

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Specializes in Med/Surge.

Thanks for this! I'm not there yet but it's a great explanation

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Just took that test and got 95% on it(missed one question). I really wanna help you but I'm not sure if my answer is right.

This is how I calculated it :

First I wanna know how many ml it will infuse in an hour

It says it would infuse 30 gtts/min, we know that 1ml = 15 gtts that means it infuses 2ml/min. 2x60 to get 120ml/hr.

The next step is to figure out how long it's gonna take for 500ml to infuse.

Divide 500ml / 120ml = 4.2

4.2 = 4 hrs and 12 mins

Answer: 0412

Good luck. I hope this help even just a little.

I'm just learning too so I understand how you got the 2 mL/min.

500 mL at 2ml/min is 250 minutes

So 4 hours is 240 minutes (60X4) and 10 minutes left over so I get 0410 for the time completed.

We are 2 minutes apart in our answers.

???

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

post deleted.

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