An adolescent with meningococcal meningitis is receiving a continuous IV infusion of penicillin G, which is prescribed as 20 million units in a total volume of 2 liters of normal saline every 24 hours. The pharmacy delivers 10 million units/liter of normal saline. How many mL/hour should the nurse program the infusion pump? (Enter numeric value only. If rounding is required, round to the nearest whole number.)

The nurse should set the infusion pump to deliver the entire 2 liters (2000 mL) over the course of 24 hours. Therefore, the IV pump should be set to deliver: Rate (mL/hr) = Total volume (mL) / Time (hr) ​= 2000 mL ​/ 24 hr After performing the calculation, we find that the rate equals 83.33 mL/hr. So, the nurse should set the infusion pump to deliver 83 mL/hr (rounded to the nearest whole number). This is because 83 mL of the solution contains the prescribed dose of penicillin G every hour.