A nurse is preparing to administer dextrose 5% in water (D,W) IV to infuse at 100 mL/hr. The drop factor of the manual IV tubing is 15 gtt/mL. The nurse should set the manual IV infusion to deliver how many gtt/min? (Round the answer to the nearest whole number. Use a leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.)
The formula to calculate the flow rate in drops per minute (gtt/min) is:
Flow rate (gtt/min) = (Volume to be infused in mL) x Drop factor / Time in minutes
In this case:
Volume to be infused = 100 mL/hr = 100 mL / 60 min = 1.67 mL/min
Drop factor = 15 gtt/mL
Time = 1 min
Flow rate = 1.67 x 15 / 1 = 25.05
Rounded to the nearest whole number, the nurse should set the IV infusion to deliver 25 gtt/min.