Urgent: Iv drip rates, flow rates etc

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Hello,

I am in great need of help on calculating flow rates/drip rates, or if infusion pump is broken what to do with gtt/ml etc..

Our professor was nice enough to hand out a sheet first wwith just questions and then following week provide answers showing us how she got them. Heres a few.

"Your ct. has an order for Erythromycin 250mg in 150mL of NS to infuse IVPB over 30 minutes. Calculate the flow rate for an "Infusion pump (Drop factor =10)

---I know for pumps I need mL/hr in the answer. But i get confused/flustered when I see drop/drip factor and when to use and not to use etc. Its easy math, but it's me freaking out.

Another question- "A post-op cardiac med is infusing at 30 gtts/min using a microdrip. The solution strength is 100mg in 500mL D5W. Calculate the mcg/min and mg/hr separately.

"A med is ordered for ur ct. at the rate of 8mcg/min. Solution strength is 8mg in 250mL D5W. YOU ARE USING A MICRODRIP. At what rate will you set the infusion pump?--- For this question I get confused when they say "Using a micro-drip."

-In english,my biggest problem seems to be knowing what information is relevant/important for the pt. medication, and adding non-important numbers and such.

-Our nursing school stresses "Dimnsional Analysis" which has worked well for me in the past. Just wording messes me up.

Also I have looked on the internet and is hard to find similar problems to the ones my professor will ask and is looking for. Many prob. I find on internet do not have "irrelevant" information to mess us up on. Does anything know any good sites with tons of problems??????

Also if any experts on here can help teach me when to use micro-drip, gtts/min, or gtts/mL, and difference between "what rate will you set the infusion pum," compared to "Calculate the flow rate to deliver the rest of the medication on time, or At what rate would you set the IV pump.

Thanks so much for reading! I need to pass this math quiz in order to start passing meds (along with my instructor of course)-bc its my first semester of clinicals.

Thanks so much for everyones time,

Brandon

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Also, When looking at word problems, I am confused in writing my dimensional analyis out in terms of which num goes with which, Ex: (500mL/30min), or (500mL/250mg)

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hello,

i am in great need of help on calculating flow rates/drip rates, or if infusion pump is broken what to do with gtt/ml etc..

our professor was nice enough to hand out a sheet first wwith just questions and then following week provide answers showing us how she got them. heres a few.

"your ct. has an order for erythromycin 250mg in 150ml of ns to infuse ivpb over 30 minutes. calculate the flow rate for an "infusion pump (drop factor =10)

the amount of fluid is 150ml. the dose or erythromycin does not matter.

(amount of fluid* drop factor) so, for this problem (150*10)= 1500=50gtts/min

time in minutes [color=paleturquoise]000000000000000000000000000030 [color=paleturquoise]00000030

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Yes I know how to get that answer, but thanks for showing me. Im just confused on these type problems.

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if i remember correctly microtubing is always 60gtt/ml, while macrodrip tubing can be 10, 15, or 20 gtt/ml. so if you have a problem using micro tubing you will always use 60gtt/ml but if the problem states macrodrip tubing it should give you the gtt/ml rate.

we were told that if you are using a pump, your answer will always be in ml/hr and if you are using gravity (the micro/macro tubing) your answer will always be in gtt/min.

pumps also need to always be in hours as a pump doesn't understand minutes. so if you have something that needs to infuse 100ml over 30min you would set your pump for 200ml/hr. using da:

100ml....60min...6000....200ml

---------...-------.=.-----.=.------

30min......1hr.......30.......1hr

our prof like to throw in a lot of information and so many of the people in are class get thrown by it. in the problem you posted all you needed to know if the amount of solution being infused and the time because you were right, the answer should have been in ml/hr because of the pump. the rest is just in there to throw you off.

had the question said you were using macrotubing w/ a drip rate of 10 though, you could set it up using da like this:

150ml.....10gtt.....1500.....50gtt

---------...-------.=.------ = -------

30min......1ml........30.......1min

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