A client receives a prescription for 1 liter of lactated Ringer’s IV to be infused over 8 hours. The IV administration set delivers 20 gtt/mL. How many gtt/min should the nurse regulate the infusion? (Enter numerical value only. If rounding is required, round to the nearest whole number.)

Calculation: Total volume to be infused = 1 liter Convert the total volume from liters to milliliters: Total volume (mL) = Total volume (liters) x 1000 mL/liter = 1 liter x 1000 mL/liter = 1000 mL Identify the infusion time in minutes: Infusion time (minutes) = Infusion time (hours) x 60 minutes/hour = 8 hours x 60 minutes/hour = 480 minutes Identify the drop factor of the IV administration set: 20 gtt/mL Calculate the total number of drops to be infused: Total drops = Total volume (mL) x Drop factor (gtt/mL) = 1000 mL x 20 gtt/mL = 20000 gtt Calculate the infusion rate in drops per minute (gtt/min): Infusion rate (gtt/min) = Total drops / Infusion time (minutes) = 20000 gtt / 480 minutes = 41.67 gtt/minute Round to the nearest whole number: = 42 gtt/minute