RN Nursing · Dosage Calculation · Practice question
A client is receiving a secondary infusion of azithromycin 500 mg in 500 mL of normal saline NS to be infused over 2 hours The IV administration set delivers 10 gttmL How many gttmin should the nurse regulate the infusion Enter numerical value only If rounding is required round to the nearest whole number
-
25 gttmin
-
✓
42 gttmin
-
50 gttmin
-
60 gttmin
Answer & explanation
Correct: 42 gttmin
To calculate the drip rate in gtt/min, the nurse uses the formula: (Volume in mL × Drop factor) ÷ Time in minutes. The prescribed infusion is 500 mL over 2 hours, and the administration set delivers 10 gtt/mL. First, convert 2 hours to minutes: 2 × 60 = 120 minutes. Then apply the formula: (500 mL × 10 gtt/mL) ÷ 120 minutes = 5,000 ÷ 120 = 41.67 gtt/min, which rounds to 42 gtt/min. This matches option B. Option A (25 gtt/min) is too slow and would result from an incorrect calculation, such as using a drop factor of 6. Option C (50 gtt/min) would be correct only if the infusion were administered over approximately 100 minutes rather than 120. Option D (60 gtt/min) represents infusing 500 mL over 1 hour (83 mL/min × 10 gtt), which is too rapid. Nurses must be precise with manual drip rate calculations because deviations can lead to under-dosing of the antibiotic or dangerous over-infusion. Azithromycin is an antibiotic for atypical organisms; its minimum infusion time of 60 minutes (500 mg/hour) is clinically important to minimize infusion-related reactions.
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