A patient needs 500 mL of normal saline to be infused over 2 hours. The IV set delivers 15 gtt/mL. What is the rate in gtt/min?

A patient needs 500 mL of normal saline to be infused over 2 hours. The IV set delivers 15 gtt/mL. What is the rate in gtt/min?

• A. 62 gtt/min
• B. 63 gtt/min
• C. 50 gtt/min
• D. 75 gtt/min

Answer: (B)

Understanding how to compute IV flow rate in gtt/min: you convert the infusion to a per-minute rate in milliliters, then multiply by the drip factor to get drops per minute. First find how many milliliters per minute are being infused. 500 mL over 2 hours equals 500 mL divided by 120 minutes, which is about 4.1667 mL per minute. The IV set delivers 15 drops (gtt) per milliliter, so each minute the patient gets 4.1667 mL × 15 gtt/mL ≈ 62.5 gtt per minute. Since we dispense whole drops, round to the nearest whole drop: 63 gtt/min. So the correct rate is 63 gtt/min.

Understanding how to compute IV flow rate in gtt/min: you convert the infusion to a per-minute rate in milliliters, then multiply by the drip factor to get drops per minute.

First find how many milliliters per minute are being infused. 500 mL over 2 hours equals 500 mL divided by 120 minutes, which is about 4.1667 mL per minute.

The IV set delivers 15 drops (gtt) per milliliter, so each minute the patient gets 4.1667 mL × 15 gtt/mL ≈ 62.5 gtt per minute. Since we dispense whole drops, round to the nearest whole drop: 63 gtt/min.

So the correct rate is 63 gtt/min.