Prescribing IV Fluids

Welcome to this guide on prescribing IV (intravenous) fluids! This is according to the current NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines and goes through a structured approach on the physiology of the human body as well as the types of fluids, assessment of fluid status and then how to prescribe fluids depending on whether it is needed for maintenance, replacement or resuscitation. There are also cases for each of these 3 sections. 

This resource is aimed at medical students in their clinical years as well as foundation year doctors. 

You can expect to learn about: 

• physiology of the human body with a focus on fluid composition 
• composition of different IV fluids- including the difference between crystalloids and colloids 
• assessing fluid status to see if a patient is hyovolaemic, euvolaemic or hypervolaemic 
• fluid prescribing according to maintenance, replacement and resuscitation needs for adults and paediatrics.