Published Jun 12, 2010
swnewrngrad
9 Posts
Ok, I am taking my NCLEX in two days and here is a hum-dinger of an med-math problem that myself and my nursing friends cannot figure out. I am including the answer. This came off of a practice exam and I have seen the rational and still cannot figure it out. Can anyone help me?
The physician orders 1000 ml of NS. The IV is infusing at 25 microgtt/min. (Drop factor is microdrop). The nurse will calculate the infusion time as ____________ hrs.
The answer is 40.
njmomstudent
135 Posts
Microdrop will mean 1ml=60gtts
In order to get microgtt/hour, you mulitply 25 X60=1500 microgtt/hour. 25micrgtt X 60min = 1500 microgtt
min 1hour hour
Now, since there are 60gtts in 1ml, you divide the 1500 by 60 to convert it to ml. 1500/60= 25ml/hr. 1500mcgtt X 1ml = 25ml
hour 60mcgtt hour
Since you have 1000ml total and you are infusing 25ml/hr, you divide 1000 by 25. 1000ml/25ml/hr=40 hrs.
Gosh I hope this helps and you can see where the factors cancel each other out. I'm not goo at explaining math.
kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN
815 Posts
I agree with the above....but I'll make it neater to see haha
you want hours
(hrs) 1hr...x...1 min..x....60mcgtt..x..1000ml =60,000
``` 60min```25mcgtt````1ml`````````````1500 and you get 40 hours when it all cancels out
LOL. I SUCK at trying to exlplain math. I make it so much more complicated usually! Yours looks loads better!!!