Question

A medication order calls for the following premixed IV fluid to be infused at 125 mL/hr.

How many grams (g) of sodium (Na+) will the patient receive each day? (Please note this is a continuous infusion and a new bag will be hung when the previous one runs out until the order is discontinued.) (MW NaCl = 58.44, MW Na+ = 22.99) Please round the final answer to two decimal places, except no trailing zeros

Answer 1

The infusion rate for IV infusion is given as 125ml/ hr.

We know that, Infusion rate= Total volume / time

Total volume can be taken as 1L or 1000 ml.

Therefore,

Time for infusion= Total volume / Infusion rate

=1000ml/ 125ml

=8 hours

One infusion bag will be finished in 8 hours. There for for 1 day(24 hours) 3 units of IV fluids are needed.

To calculate the grams of sodium the patient receives in one day,

We know that IV fluids contains 9 grams of NaCl.

Therefore, to find grams of sodium in one unit of IV: 9×(molecular weight of Na/molecular weight of NaCl)

=9×(22.99/58.44)

=9×0•39

=3.54g

3.54 g of sodium is present in 1 unit of IV fluids.

​​​​​​Hence, in 3 units of IV, 3× 3.54, ie; 10.62 g of sodium will be there.

So the patient receive 10.62 g of sodium in one day.