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Assessing and documenting fluid balance

Sarah Pinnington Acute care clinical educator, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England

Sarah Ingleby Lead nurse, acute care and hospital at night, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England

Prasanna Hanumapura Acute kidney injury specialist nurse, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England

Deryn Waring Acute kidney injury specialist nurse, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England

Concerns about inadequate patient hydration and suboptimal monitoring of fluid balance have been documented in recent reports. The Fluid-balance Improvement Project at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was undertaken to identify risk factors influencing hydration and to implement a revised process to manage these risks, resulting in the development of a hydration pathway. This new approach to monitoring patient hydration, together with staff education and support, has resulted in improved compliance with fluid-balance monitoring standards, as well as significant improvements in identifying patients at risk of dehydration, and an increase in patients with acute kidney injury correctly beginning fluid-balance monitoring.

Nursing Standard. 31, 15, 46-54. doi: 10.7748/ns.2016.e10432

Correspondence

sarah.pinnington@cmft.nhs.uk

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 28 January 2016

Accepted: 19 April 2016

Keywords :

acute kidney injury - fluid balance - fluid balance assessment - hydration - hydration assessment - renal care - service improvement