IV drip formula

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Does anyone have a formula they use they love?? I'm on break but want to get familiar with the math soon....

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

This is a great site!!!!!!!!

DosageHelp.com - Helping Nursing Students Learn Dosage Calculations

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Specializes in (Nursing Support) Psych and rehab.

Dimensional analysis works great for me

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
Dimensional analysis works great for me

This is a great method... just make sure that you set the problem up correctly and it works, every time. I personally could never quite wrap my head around it, but I know how to do it. Everything I've had to do to date has been either a simple math problem or a ratio problem. There are lots of sites out there for med math. The one above "DosageHelp" is really a good site for that stuff.

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A very simple formula that i use

Fluid divided by time multiplied by drop factor :) it will be as

Fluid'/. Time * drop factor

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Specializes in Tele.
A very simple formula that i use

Fluid divided by time multiplied by drop factor :) it will be as

Fluid'/. Time * drop factor

Yes, this works well :) Don't complicate it. For example

100ml/ over 60 minutes x drop rate (usually 13-15)

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I use:

ml x gtts / time.

Works great, and really simple!

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Ok I used the ml x gtt / time... Works great to get your gtt/min... now my question is how do I solve the units/hr, mLs/hr, and how many hours with the IV pump run for.... I've tried different equations and I am LOST!

I am trying on my own until class starts and I go to tutoring....

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I still use the mlxgtt/time... then to find units/hr just multiply gtt/min x 60min. To find mls/hr just do ml/60min

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I always tell students that they can use whatever formula they like best (I'm not sharing mine here), but if you have a rough idea of what it ought to be, you can recognize a totally off-the-wall wrong answer.

To address this question: Your units or milligrams or widgets per hour you solve by first knowing how many units, milligrams, or widgets there are in a given volume. Your problem will always give you the information you need to figure that out.

For example, if you have a solution that is 500,000 widgets per liter, then you can figure out how many widgets per cc here are, right? 500,000 in a liter / 1000cc in a liter.... so 500,000/1000 will tell you that. So you have 500 widgets in a cc. If your problem asks you to give 25,000 widgets per hour, how many cc is that? That would be ... fifty cc.

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I get it!!!! I get it!!!! I was sooooo nervous about this math!

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

Good for you!!!!!! Congratualtions!

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