In preparing to administer an IV antibiotic that needs to infuse in 20 minutes using a set with a drop factor of 15 gtts/mL, how many gtts/min should the nurse set the piggyback to flow?

To determine the correct flow rate in drops per minute (gtts/min) for the IV antibiotic that needs to infuse over 20 minutes, we first need to calculate the total number of drops required.

Given that the drop factor is 15 gtts/mL, this means that for every 1 mL of fluid, there are 15 drops.

The calculation begins with determining how many mL will be administered in 20 minutes. For this question, we can utilize a typical IV bag volume. Assuming we're infusing a standard volume of 100 mL (although it could vary), we proceed with this volume for our calculation.

Strategically, we first calculate the total drops needed:

1. If we have 100 mL to infuse, the total drops would be:

Total drops = Volume (mL) × Drop factor (gtts/mL)

Total drops = 100 mL × 15 gtts/mL = 1500 drops.

Next, since we need to know how many drops to administer per minute, we divide the total number of drops by the duration of the infusion in minutes:

2. Calculate the flow rate:

gtts/min = Total drops / Time (min)