Running IV hydration manually - rates

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Hi,

I have lost my card with my pre calculated drip rates to set a 20 drop per ml giving set to the prescribed rate.

As an example, I know that a 1 litre bag over 12 hours is 83.33 ml an hour, usually rounded up to 84 but I can't remember how many drops per minute I set the drip at nor can I remember the calculation.

We don't use pumps routinely for IV hydration, I moved from Australia to UK without my beloved card so am stuck when it comes to calculating the drip rate.

Would appreciate the forumula or if anyone knows where i can download a pre calculated information sheet from the net, I would appreciate it.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

check the tubing bag/box you are using first for accurate rate:

60 gtts/ml minidrip drip set

10 gtts/ml regular drip set

15 gtts/ml regular drip set

20 gtts/ml regular drip set (this set is sometimes used, but it's not as popular)

paper and pencil:

performing iv calculations:

pda [color=#5649b9]iv dripcalc 1.0 :

iv flowchart

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma.

Or just do it the easy way- the magic number equation. Take whatever gtt tubing your're using and divide it into 60. So if you're using 20 gtt tubing, your magic number is 3 (60/20=3). Using 15 gtt tubing, your magic number is 4 (60/15=4) Then whatever rate you have ordered, just divide by the magic number to get your gtts/minute.

Ex: fluids ordered at 120cc/hr, using 20 gtt tubing- you just divide that by three to get 40 gtts/minute.

Ex: fluids ord at 120 cc/hr, using 15 gtt tubing-divide rate by your magic number, 4 in this case, and get 30 gtts/min

Just memorize the magic number for whatever gtt tubing you use, and you can figure out gtts/min in just a few seconds

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