Parenteral Fluid Administration

Twenty years ago body weight was used as the point of reference from which parenteral fluid requirements were calculated. As interest in fluids and electrolytes increased it became apparent, however, that weight alone could not serve as the point of reference for these calculations since the same amount of fluid per pound could not be given to an older child as was given to an infant. Formulas were therefore constructed utilizing surface area as the standard of reference upon which maintenance fluid requirements could be based.¹ Recently the rationale of the entire "surface area concept" has been questioned by Wilson and his associates.² These authors have pointed out the inadequacy of the data upon which the surface area "nomograms" are based, and they have raised other technical objections. (Twelve patients studied in 1915 served as the basis for the DuBois Linear Formula from which the surface area nomograms