OBJECTIVES

Upon successful completion of this

chapter, the student will be able to:
•Perform calculations for adult
and pediatric intravenous infusions.
•Perform calculations for
intravenous additives.
•Perform rate-of-flow calculations
for intravenous fluids.
•Utilize correctly rate-of-flow tables
and nomograms
DEFINITIONS:

 Injections sterile pharmaceutical solution or

suspensions of a drug substance in an aqueous
or non-aqueous vehicle administered by
needle into almost any part of the body.
 –What are the common sites of injections?
 –What are the different types of formulations?
 –How are some injections available?
 –Define parenteral. What routes of injections
does it include?
 IV push = IV Stat = Bolus
 –Rapid injection of IV medication
 EXAMPLES OF IV INFUSION
SOLUTIONS

 Sterile, aqueous preparations

administered intravenously in
relatively large volumes used to
extend blood volume and/or provide
electrolytes, nutrients, or
medications.
 Different types of
Infusions
Continuous Infusion: Large volume of fluid that
are run into a vein uninterrupted

Intermittent Infusion: scheduled administration of

infusion

Infusion Time

Volume of infusion in ml

Flow rate in ml/hr

 RATE OF FLOW
 Can be ml/min, drops/min, mg/hr
 Rate of flow (drops/min)
 Vol. infusion (ml) x Drip set (drops/ml)
Time (min)
 Example
 What will be the grams each of
dextrose and sodium chloride used to
prepare a 100-mL bag of  D51 ⁄ 2 NS for
intravenous infusion?
 Example
 If 200 mg of drug are added to a 500
ml bag, what is the rate of flow, in
ml/hr, deliver 500 mcg of drug/hr?
 Example
 Calculate the daily infusion volume
of 
D10W to be administered to a neonate
weighing 4 lb. on the basis of 80 mL
/ kg / day.

 Infusion set delivers 60 drops/mL at

20 drops per minute, calculate the
total time of infusion.
 Example
 A medication order calls for 1000 mL 
of D5W to be administered over an 8-
hour period. Using an IV
administration set that delivers 10
drops/mL, how many drops per
minute should be delivered to the
patient? 
 Example
 Doctor orders 1 L of NS infuse at 200
ml/hr. You start 8:00 am. When will
infusion ends?
 Example
 MD orders the following IV
prescription for a patient weighing
176 lbs.
 Drug B 7000 mcg/kg in 50 mL IV bag.
Drug B is available in 150 mg/ml
vial.
 Infusion rate: 0.64 ml/min every 6
hours.
 Please answer the following
questions; a) How many mg of drug B
 Example
 b) How many mL of reconstituted Drug B
solution should be withdrawn to be added to
one IV bag?
 c) How many milligrams of Drug B will the
patient receive in 24 hours?
 d) How many hours will it take to completely
administer the IV bag?
 e) Calculate the infusion rate in ml/hr.
 f) Using an IV set, which delivers 23 drops per
ml, what rate (drop/min) should be
administered?
 Example
 A medication order calls for 1500 ml
of a normal saline intravenous to be
administered over a 10 hr period.
Using an intravenous administration
set that delivers 15 drops/ ml, how
many drops/hr should be delivered to
the patient.
 Example
 An injection contains 5 mg each 2 ml.
if a physician prescript a dose of 2.5
mg to be administered to a hospital
patient four times a day, how many
ml of injection will be required over a
3 day period?
 Example
 MD orders Digoxin 0.125 mg IV stat.
The vial is labeled 500 mcg/2 ml.
How many ml will you give perdose?
 Example
 If an intravenous fluid is adjusted to
deliver 50 mg of medication to a
patient per hour, how many mg of
medication are delivered every 15
seconds?
 Example
 A patient receives a solution by
intravenous infusion at a rate of 36
drops/min. How many much solution
is infused in 3h if the infusion set
delivers 30 drops/ml?
 Example
 Dobutamine is being administered at
a rate of 20 mcg/kg/min to a 154 lbs
patient. If 10ml 10 % dobutamine is
placed in 490 ml of NS and the IV drip
set is calibrated to provide 30 drops/L
how many drops per minute is
administered to the patient?
 Example
 A  patient weighing 110 pounds is
started on esmolol IV infusion at a
rate of 2 mcg/kg/min. Esmolol was
prepared by reconstituting a 5 ml
vial  of it containing 120 mg of
esmolol and then adding half of the
vial to a 500 ml IV bag. What is the
infusion rate be in terms of ml/min?
 Example
 A patient receives 500 ml dopamine
hydrochloride with a drip rate is 20
mcg/kg/min. The patient weighs 154
lb. The pharmacy has dopamine hcl
premixed in concentration of 3.2
mg/ml in D5W. How many ml/min
should be the rate to program the
infusion pump
 Example
 An IV order is placed as follows: 1
gram of Cefazolin in a 500 cc IV bag
of normal saline infused over one
hour Q8 hours. What is the flow rate
in mg /min if it is infused over one
hour?
 Example
 . In calibrating a medical dropper, 2
mL of a pediatric solution resulted in
48 drops. If it is desired to administer
0.08 mL of the medication to a baby,
approximately how many drops
should be given?
 Example
 Doctor orders: 2L of D51/2 NS w/50
mEq KCL over 48 hrs. Drip factor: 15
gtt/mL.
 How many drops are administered
per minute?
 Example
 A Heparin infusion at 18 units/kg/hr.
The patient weighs 130 lbs. You have
500 ml bag of Heparin that reads 25
000 units /500 ml. You start the
infusion at 2: 00 pm. What time will
the infusion be complete?
 Example
 Doctor’s order says: Infuse 1500 ml
of LR over 12 hr.
 Drip factor: 15 ggt/ml
 How many drops per minute?
 Example
 A 68 kg patient is receive a drug in
standard concentration of 500
mg/750 ml of 1/2 NS running at 15
ml/hr. Calculate the dose in
mcg/kg/min.
 Example
72 years old male patient weighs 130 kg and receives 0.25 mg/kg
per day of amphotericin B (0.2 mg/ml) by IV infusion. How much
ml solution is required to deliver the daily dose?
 Example
A patient is receiving an infusion from a 500 ml bag containing a 0.5%
solution of drug S. The drug factor is calibrated at 12 gtt/ml and the
flow rate is set to 10 ggt/min. if the infusion run for 4 hours how much
of the active drug will the patient receive?
 Example
A physician has order a patient to receive 2 mg/kg/hr of an iv drug
solution for
several hours. The requested drug solution is available in 500 ml bags
of 0.25%.
If the patient weights 151.8 lbs for how many full hours will one bag
supply the ordered infusion for?
 Example
Doctor order says: 0.4 L of D5W in NS to infuse 0ver 3 hr.
Drip factor : 10 gtt/mL

How many drops per min?

 Example
 A patient is to receive a potassium
acetate (KC2H3O2) infusion prepared
by adding 10 ml of 39.2% KC2H3O2 to
0.45% NS to make 1L. The patient is
to receive the KC2H3O2 at 5 mEq/hr.
What rate in ml/hr will provide this
dose? MW=98