Fluid balance assessment. The total perspective

Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am. 1998 Dec;10(4):383-400.

Abstract

Fluid balance assessment is a fundamental aspect of caring for critically ill patients who often have volume disturbances. Since the introduction of hemodynamic monitoring in the critical care setting decades ago, we have become more dependent on technology to assist us in evaluating a patient's fluid status and less skilled in basic physical examination and interpretation of common blood and urine values. Information obtained from these basic clinical skills is equally as, if not more, important as numbers derived by invasive means.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Algorithms
  • Body Fluids / physiology
  • Decision Trees
  • Humans
  • Kidney / physiology
  • Male
  • Nursing Assessment / methods*
  • Water-Electrolyte Balance* / physiology
  • Water-Electrolyte Imbalance / diagnosis
  • Water-Electrolyte Imbalance / metabolism
  • Water-Electrolyte Imbalance / nursing*