Anaesthesia Fundamentals | Physiology | Body Water and Compartments

Body Water and Compartments
Session overview
Description
In this session you will gain an understanding of the fluid compartments and the factors involved in the distribution of fluid between them. This is a vital skill which will enable you to adequately assess and treat sick patients and help you to choose which fluid to give. It will also help to guide your prescription of fluid in health and disease.

Learning objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Identify the main body compartments and their size
• Define osmolarity and osmolality
• Describe the regulatory processes involved in water intake
• Describe factors involved in the movement of fluid between compartments

This session will help you to understand how water is distributed within the body and the relative sizes of the compartments into which it flows. This is very important to help you decide how much fluid to give your patients perioperatively or when resuscitating them.

In addition, we will look at the factors which regulate fluid intake into the body.

Finally, we will look at the factors which control the distribution of water between the compartments in the body and the effect that different fluid composition has on this distribution.