Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 8, 2025
A Novel Approach for the Administration of Medications and Fluids in Emergency Scenarios and Settings
Published on: November 9, 2016
Intravenous fluid therapy: a multi-national, cross-sectional survey of common medical student resources
Jack B Ding1, Thomas C Varkey2,3
1Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, SA, Adelaide, Australia. jackbding@icloud.com.
Background:
Inappropriate prescription of intravenous fluid therapy is highly prevalent in hospitals, with up to 1 in 5 patients suffering from preventable, additional morbidity. Since trainee physicians are frequently responsible for prescribing intravenous fluids, it is possible that common medical student resources do not sufficiently cover the topic. There is a paucity of recent literature on this issue, which this study was designed to address.
Methods:
Two original evaluation tools were created by the authors to evaluate reference books, official guidelines, and online reference sources commonly used by medical students in the United States of America, Australia, and the United Kingdom on their coverage of foundational and clinically relevant principles of intravenous fluid prescription. The choice of student resources was guided by a literature search and personal experience. A total of 10 resources was assessed.
Results:
Resources were generally deficit in their coverage of basic intravenous fluid topics. The total points each topic accumulated ranged from 0.5 (5%) to 7.5 (75%), with the median score being 4.5 (45%), on a scale from 0 to 10 points.
Conclusions:
Popular medical student resources poorly cover intravenous fluid therapy topics. This may be contributing to inadequate fluid prescribing practices.
Related Concept Videos
01:20Acute Kidney Injury V: Interprofessional Care
01:15Two-Compartment Open Model: IV Infusion
The model illustrates the decrease in plasma drug concentration from the central compartment with a specific equation. It shows that under steady-state conditions, the drug's input rate...
01:09One-Compartment Model: IV Infusion
The one-compartment model for IV infusion uses mathematical equations to describe the rate of change in drug quantity in the body. At steady-state or infusion equilibrium, the drug input...
01:19Body Water Content and Fluid Compartments
00:56One-Compartment Open Model for IV Bolus Administration: Estimation of Clearance
In the one-compartment open model for intravenous (IV) bolus administration, clearance is estimated by dividing the elimination rate by the plasma drug concentration. This equation leverages the elimination rate constant and the apparent...
01:19One-Compartment Open Model for IV Bolus Administration: General Considerations
The drug's presence in the body is defined by an equation representing the difference between the rates of drug entry and exit. Key parameters—elimination rate constant,...