The Basics of Intravenous Fluid Administration Pages 210 - 221

The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Page 210 The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Intravenous (IV) fluids & medications are solutions that are placed directly into the blood stream via a vein. This is called infusion. Intravenous medications & solutions have a very quick effect. An IV medication may be prepared by a physician, nurse, pharmacist, or a pharmacy technician. IV solutions are also used to maintain & to replace fluids, to keep a vein open for further treatment, & provide therapy.

The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Page 210 The Basics of IV Fluid Administration The following are the common abbreviations used in IV administration: Term Abbreviation Intravenous IV Piggy-back PB Drop/drops gtt/gtts Hour hr Minutes min Drops per minute gtts/min

The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Pages 210 – 211 The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Term Abbreviation Drops per milliliter gtts/mL Milliliters per hour mL/hr Water H2O, W 5% dextrose water D5W 10% dextrose water D10W Normal saline (0.9%) NS One half normal saline (0.45%) ½ NS

The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Page 211 The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Term Abbreviation Ringer's lactate solution RL Lactated Ringer's solution LR Microdrip administration Standard administration/ macrodrip administration Blood administration 60 drops per milliliter 10, 15, 20 drops per milliliter 10 drops per milliliter

The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Page 212 The Basics of IV Fluid Administration To calculate VI infusion rates with a formula Amount of fluid in milliliters (mL) Total time of infusion in minutes Administration set drop factor x = Drops per minute

The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Page 217 The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Sometimes the infusion time in hours (a specific duration) is not given. The following formula will help solve the problem. V F = t t = specific time in hours V = volume in milliliters (mL) F = flow rate in milliliters per hour

The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Page 217 The Basics of IV Fluid Administration Sometimes the total volume of fluid to be infused must be calculated. To calculated how much fluid will be infused, one may used a formula or dimensional analysis: V = t x F t = time in hours V = volume in milliliters (mL) F = flow rate in milliliters per hour