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Fluid balance chart

The chart on the RCSI reading list, filled in the way a night nurse finds it at 07.00: 24 hourly rows, five intake columns, urine, vomit and whatever the ward wrote over the blank columns. The totals are yours. Add each column, write total intake, total output and the balance with its sign, then two judgements the examiner asks for: is the urine output enough for this weight, and what goes in the handover. Infusions are charted hourly at their rate, so a litre over eight hours is eight rows of 125: count the rows, not the bag, because you write down what actually went in.

Sources: RCSI, Fluid Balance Chart (reading list download, checked against the live page 17.09.2026); 0.5 mL/kg/h is the figure printed on the INEWS V2 observation chart (“Notify Doctor if urine output is < 0.5 mL/kg/hr”) and the red flag on the HSE sepsis screening form (Sept 2025). The CDC urine output page on the RCSI list no longer exists (404 on 17.09.2026). Pairs with the IV and fluid balance station, which interprets the same chart under time.