A nurse is caring for patient on IV fluids. The patient’s order states that she is to receive 500 mLs of 5% D 0.45 normal saline over a 2-hour period. The patient’s IV tubing has a drip factor of 10 gtts/ml. Approximately how many drops per minute should be administered?

To find the drops/minute rate of an IV solution, take the total volume that is to be given and divide it by the total of number of minutes for the infusion, then divide this number by the drip factor of the IV tubing. For this example, it would be 500 mL divided by 120 minutes, which is 4.16 mL/min that is then multiplied by 10 gtts/min giving you the answer (rounded to the nearest whole number) of 42 gtts/minute.