Drip chamber

It is commonly employed in delivery systems of intravenous therapy and acts to prevent air embolism.

However, other sources of resistance (such as whether the vein is kinked or compressed by the patient's position) cannot be so directly controlled and a change in position may change the rate of flow leading to inadvertently rapid or slow infusion.

Where this might be problematic an infusion pump can be used which gives a more accurate measurement of flow rate.

Drip chambers can be classified into macro-drip (about 10 to 20 gtts/ml) and micro-drip (about 60 gtts/ml) based on their drop factors.

Flow rate can be calculated with the help of the observations from the drip chamber and its drop factor.