A nurse is preparing to administer 0.9% sodium chloride (NS) 3000 mL IV to infuse over 24 hr. The drop factor on the manual IV tubing is 10 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.)

Calculation: Total volume = 3000 mL. Infusion time = 24 hours Infusion time = 24 hours x 60 minutes/hour = 1440 minutes. Drop factor = 10 gtt/mL. Calculate the infusion rate in drops per minute (gtt/min). Infusion rate (gtt/min) = (Total volume (mL) x Drop factor (gtt/mL)) / Total time (min) = (3000 mL x 10 gtt/mL) / 1440 min = 30,000 gtt / 1440 min = 20.833... gtt/min. Round to the nearest whole number. = 21 gtt/min.