Question

An 80 year-old with internal bleeding is admitted through the emergency room after a motor vehicle accident. the physician has ordered 2 units of packed red blood cells (1 unit is 250 ml) to infuse over 1 hour each. the drip rate on the blood administration set is10 gtt/ml. what would be the flow rate in drops per minute?

Answer 1

We are given:

2 units of packed red blood cells infused over 1 hour each, so 1 unit per hour
1 unit is equivalent to 250 ml
10 gtt/mL

solve for the volume per unit time:

1 unit per hour / 1 unit /250 mL = 250 mL per hour

The flow rate in drops per minute is determined by:

- converting hours to minutes:

250 mL per hour * (1 hour / 60 minutes) =4.2 mL per minute

-multiplying gtt/ml to flow rate

4.2 mL/min * 10 gtt/mL = 42 gtt/minute

Therefore the final flow rate in drops per minute is 42 gtt per minute.<span />