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Abstract

Objectives: (1) To measure the difference between the actual and observed volumes of fluids as measured by the commercially available drainage bags. (2) To find out reliability of fluid volume measurements as observed in commercially available drainage bags. Settings: Surgical Unit II, IIMCT Railway Hospital, Rawalpindi. Study design: Descriptive. Materials & methods: Commercially available drainage bags were used to observe the volume of fluid contained in it. The fluid (tap water) was introduced in the bag with a 50 cc syringe in 50 cc increments starting from 50 cc to 1050 cc. and the difference between observed volume and actual volumes were recorded. Data was analyzed with SPSS. Results: A total of twenty-one observations were made in 02 different commercially available urine bags. Major differences were found in the observed and measured volume with minimum difference of 50 -230 ml and maximum difference of 200-520ml. Conclusions: Significant differences were found between the actual volumes and the volumes observed by the marks on the drainage bags. It is noted that the observed value of the fluid volume contained in a drainage bag is highly unreliable and should not be used for clinical decision making.