Of 332 eligible patients, 326 (98%) were studied from 14 wards (Fig. 1). One hundred and eighty five (57%) patients were male, and the median age was 64 years (interquartile [IQR] range: 57–82 years). Overall, 203 (62%) patients were medical admissions, and 123 (38%) patients were surgical admissions. Eighty four (26%) patients were receiving IV fluids; of these 57% (48/84) were medical patients, and 43% (36/84) were surgical patients. The characteristics and out- comes of patients who received IV fluids versus no IV fluids are shown in Table 1.