A nurse is caring for a client who is postoperative following an appendectomy and is prescribed D5 lactated Ringer's at 150 mL/hr by continuous IV infusion for 12 hr. The drop factor of the manual IV tubing is 20 gtt/mL. The nurse should set the manual IV infusion to deliver how many gtt/min? (Round the answer to the nearest whole number. Use a leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.)

Step 1: Calculate the total volume to be infused. Volume = Rate × Time Volume = 150 mL/hr × 12 hr = 1800 mL Step 2: Calculate the total time of infusion in minutes. Time = 12 hours × 60 minutes/hour = 720 minutes Step 3: Calculate the drip rate. Drip rate (gtt/min) = Total volume (mL) / Time (min) × Drop factor (gtt/mL) Drip rate = 1800 mL / 720 min × 20 gtt/mL Drip rate = 50 gtt/min Therefore, the nurse should set the manual IV infusion to deliver 50 gtt/min.