How many drops per minute (gtts/min) should be administered for a continuous infusion of 5% dextrose in 0.45% sodium chloride at 85 ml/hr through an IV set delivering 10 gtt/ml?

To determine the drops per minute for the continuous infusion, you start with the rate of the infusion, which is given as 85 ml/hr. Since the IV set delivers 10 drops per milliliter (gtt/ml), you can convert the infusion rate into the drops per minute using these steps.

First, convert the infusion rate from milliliters per hour to milliliters per minute. Since there are 60 minutes in an hour, divide the hourly rate by 60:

[

85 , \text{ml/hr} \div 60 , \text{min/hr} = 1.4167 , \text{ml/min}

]

Next, multiply the flow rate in ml/min by the drop factor of the IV set, which is 10 gtt/ml:

[

1.4167 , \text{ml/min} \times 10 , \text{gtt/ml} = 14.167 , \text{gtts/min}

]

Since the answer needs to be expressed as a whole number for practical application, this rounds to 14 gtts/min.

The correct answer represents an understanding of accurate calculation integrating both the flow rate in ml/hr converted