When recording ice chip intake for intake and output, what portion should be documented?

• A. Two-thirds of the volume
• B. One-half of the volume
• C. One-quarter of the volume
• D. Two times the volume

Answer: (B)

When recording ice chip intake, you document about half of the volume as fluid intake. The idea is that only roughly half of the ice will melt into liquid the patient can drink, while the rest remains as solid ice. So if a patient has 120 mL of ice chips, you would record 60 mL of intake. The other portions don’t count as liquid intake, since they’re still solid. The other options would misrepresent the amount of fluid actually consumed: two-thirds would be too high, one-quarter would be too low, and twice the volume would vastly exaggerate intake.