If an intravenous antibiotic of 50 mL is to be administered over 20 minutes, what should be the infusion rate in mL/h?

To find the infusion rate in mL/h when administering an intravenous antibiotic of 50 mL over 20 minutes, we start by calculating the total volume to be infused and the total time in hours.

1. Total Volume: The volume is already given as 50 mL.

2. Total Time: Since the infusion will take 20 minutes, we convert this time into hours. There are 60 minutes in an hour, so 20 minutes is equal to ( \frac{20}{60} ) hours, which simplifies to ( \frac{1}{3} ) hours or approximately 0.33 hours.

Now, we use the formula for the infusion rate:

[

\text{Infusion rate (mL/h)} = \frac{\text{Total volume (mL)}}{\text{Total time (h)}}

]

Substituting the values we have:

[

\text{Infusion rate (mL/h)} = \frac{50 \text{ mL}}{\frac{1}{3} \text{ h}} = 50 \text{ mL} \times 3 = 150 \text{ mL/h}

]

Thus,