SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads) I'm curious what peeps at other institutions in the country routinely prescribe after standard general surgery procedures for patients who are admitted. Lots of literature sorta tip-toeing around the issue, lots of debate in critical care about colloids, crystaloids, etc..... but when it comes down to WHAT ARE YOU ACTUALLY DOING for your patient who has an ELECTIVE (i.e. not septic, etc) hemicolectomy (say for cancer or whatever), what do you do? Lets assume the case was run-of-the-mill, and anesthesia did what you consider an appropriate job with fluids intra-op (whatever that means... i'm being vague I know... this is all sorta voo doo anyway). What about after a lap appy? Do you give LR? D5 1/2 with K? NS? Plasmalyte? Thoughts? Obviously a difficult left hemi-colectomy open for a large tumor is a "bigger wack" than a laparoscopic sigmoid rxn, and their post-operative recovery/insult is different, so do you take that into account? Are you concerned about so-called "SIADH" of surgery and potentially avoiding hyponatremia and don't prescribe hypotonic solutions immediately post op? For those of you who give 1/2 or D51/2 NS... why do you do this? Are you trying to reduce the salt load? Do you just like giving dextrose and find it easier to order than adding dextrose to plasmalyte or LR? If your patient has low urine output overnight, do you just bolus them with NS or whatever and keep them on the 1/2NS or do you then switch them to a resusitative normo-tonic solution (eg. NS/LR/plasmalyte)? Thanks!