An intravenous infusion of 1 liter at 60 mL/hour will take which duration to complete?

• A. 16 hours 40 minutes
• B. 16 hours 0 minutes
• C. 17 hours 0 minutes
• D. 15 hours 40 minutes

Answer: (A)

The duration of an IV infusion is found by dividing the total volume to be infused by the infusion rate.

Here, 1 liter equals 1000 mL, and the rate is 60 mL per hour. So 1000 mL ÷ 60 mL/hour = 16.666... hours. The fractional part converts to minutes: 0.666... hours × 60 minutes/hour ≈ 40 minutes. This makes the total time 16 hours and 40 minutes.

Another quick check: a rate of 60 mL/hour equals 1 mL per minute, so 1000 mL at 1 mL/min takes 1000 minutes, which is 16 hours and 40 minutes.