A client retums from the post anesthesia care unit (PACU) with a bag of intravenous (IV) fluids that has 630 mL remaining in the 1,000 mL bag. The prescription reads, "Continue the present IV over the next 7 hours." The IV administration set delivers 10 gtt/mL. The nurse should regulate the infusion to deliver how many drops/minute to accomplish the new prescription? (Enter numeric value only).

Here's what we know: Volume remaining in the bag: 630 mL Total volume to be infused (remaining volume): 630 mL (since we're using the remaining volume) Infusion time: 7 hours Drop factor (delivery rate per mL): 10 gtt/mL We need to find: Infusion rate (gtt/min) Steps to solve: Convert hours to minutes: Infusion time (hours) = 7 Conversion factor: 1 hour = 60 minutes Infusion time (minutes) = 7 hours x 60 minutes/hour = 420 minutes Calculate the required infusion rate (gtt/min): Total volume to be infused (mL) = 630 mL Drop factor (gtt/mL) = 10 gtt/mL Infusion time (minutes) = 420 minutes Infusion rate (gtt/min) = (Total volume (mL) / Infusion time (minutes)) x Drop factor (gtt/mL) Infusion rate (gtt/min) = (630 mL / 420 minutes) x 10 gtt/mL Infusion rate (gtt/min) = 15 gtt/min (rounded to the nearest whole number) Therefore, the nurse should regulate the infusion to deliver approximately 15 drops/minute.