ABSTRACT
Fluid management requires a full clinical assessment with a particular focus on the systems that affect the water content of the body: cardiovascular, renal, endocrine and gastrointestinal.
In your clinical assessment, you should focus on the patient’s overall wellbeing, as well as the fluid status in the different compartments. It is crucial to gauge which compartment has an excess or deficit of fluid, as excess in one compartment does not automatically mean excess in all compartments. For example, a patient with peripheral oedema might actually have an intravascular fluid deficit that can manifest itself clinically through hypotension and tachycardia. This book focuses on these clinically challenging situations.
