Advanced Intravenous Flow rates

1) 3L of Hartmans (lactated ringer) is charted 12 hours. The drop factor is 15 gtts/min. The IV has been running for 9 hours. 800mls remain. How many gtts/min are needed so that the IV finishes in the required time?


**First off lets write out the story to put the puzzles together


Dr Order : 3 liters for 12 hours  [Note 3L = 3000 ml]
Drop factor: 15 gtts/min
IV been running for : 9 hours with 800ml remaining
Question: How many gtts/min is needed for IV to finish within the required 12 hours?

12 hours - 9 hours = 3 hours remaining for IV to finish so lets plug that in our formula to get our gtts/min
Since the question is asking gtts/min we convert 3 hours to minutes: 3 X 60 = 180 minutes

  V                                          800 ml
____                                   ________
  T       X  DF = FL                180 min      X   15 gtts/min = 67 gtts/min




2) 1L of IV fluids is charted over 11 hours. The drop factor is 10 gtts/min. The IV has been running for 9 hours and 45 minutes. 100ml remain. How many gtts/min are needed so that the IV finish in the required time?

Dr Order: 1 liter for 11 hours
Drop Factor: 10 gtts/min
IV been running for: 9 hours and 45 minutes with 100ml remaining
Question: How many gtts/min IV is needed to finish the required 11 hours?

*Okay so 9 hours and 45 min went by, so how many hours and minutes is the IV left running to get a total of 11 hours?
 9:00 to 10:00 = 1 hour
 (45 min) 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 min
[IV has 1 hour and 15 minutes left to run
]
*So convert 1hr and 15 min to get our total minutes to begin calculating: 1hr X 60min = 60min + 15min remaining = 75 min in total

 100ml
______
 75 min  X 10 gtts/min = 13 gtts/min



3) 1000cc solution of D5NS with 20,000 units of Heparin is infusing at 20ml per hour. The IV set delivers 60 gtts per cc. How many units of Heparin is the patient receiving each hour?

*Here is a formula to calculate unit flow rates to get the final units/hour.

Units [ X ] ml/hr [ / ] ml = Units/Hr
20,000 units X 20ml/hr / 1000cc = 400 units/hr



4) Your patient has an order to receive 800 units of Heparin per hour by continuous intravenous infusion. If the pharmacy mixes the IV bag to contain a total of 5,000 units of Heparin in 500 ml of D5W, how many cc's per minute should the patient receive?


*Here is a formula to calculate unit flow rates to get the final cc/min.

Units/hour [ X ] ml [ / ] units = CC/Min
800 units/hour X 500 ml / 5,000 units = 80 cc/min


5) A 500 cc solution of D5NS with 20,000 units of Heparin is infusing at 20ml per hour. The IV set delivers 60 gtts/cc. How many units of Heparin is the patient receiving each hour?

Units [ X ] ml/hr [ / ] ml = Units/Hr
20.000 units X 20ml/hr / 500cc = 800 units/hr

6) On Wednesday afternoon, your patient returns from surgery with an IV fluid order for 1000cc every 8 hours. On Thursday morning at 8am, you assess that 600cc of a 1liter bag has been absorbed. The physician orders the remainder of that bag to infuse over the next 6 hours. You know that the IV tubing used by your unit delivers 10 gtt/ml. What will the correct rate of flow be?

  Wed PM                                Thurs AM
  _______                                ________
1000cc for every 8 hrs             600cc of 1 liter bag been absorbed

Note: 1 liter = 1000 cc


*1000cc - 600cc = 400 cc left
*6 hours X 60 min = 360 min


  400 cc
________
  360 min     X  10 gtt/min =
11 gtts/min


7) The physician reduces an IV to 30ml/hour. The IVAC indicates that 270 ml are remaining in the present IV bag. You notice that it is exactly 10:30 am. At what time will the infusion be completed?

   30 ml = 1 hour
 270 ml =  X      -----------< 270 ml X 1 hour / 30 ml = 9 hours is left, so lets figure what time 9 hrs is
below

10:30 am to 11:30 am = 1 hr
11:30 am to 12:30 pm = 2 hrs
12:30 pm to 1:30 pm = 3 hrs
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm = 4 hrs
2:30 pm to 3:30 pm = 5 hrs
3:30 pm to 4:30 pm = 6 hrs
4:30 pm to 5:30 pm = 7 hrs
5:30 pm to 6:30 pm = 8 hrs
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm = 9 hrs


The infusion will be completed at 7:30 pm