Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the fluid intake and output (I&O) measurement methods in order to figure out more effective and easier method for medical patients.
Methods: 71 hospitalized patients participated in the study. In “liquid only (LO)” method, all amount of water was summed up including any liquid types of food and IV fluids. In “whole food(WF) intake,” all liquid and solid food intake and IV fluids were added up.
Results: The average amount of fluid intake was 2105.29 ml for LO method and 2523.54 ml for WF method. The average amount of fluid output was 2148.98 ml. The intra-class correlations (ICC) between the intake and output measures by the two different methods was 0.803 and 0.826, respectively. The correlation between the differences of intake/output and body weight change in two different methods was r=.347 (p=.003), and r=.376 (p=.001), respectively.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that both LO and WF method may be useful in monitoring patients’ fluid balance. Given the comparability of using LO over WF, it is suggested that measuring just liquid only intake as the indicator of patient’s intake is applicable in clinical setting.