The present invention provides an improved, low cost method and apparatus for monitoring the intravenous metering of fluids to a patient. The present invention provides a strain gauge (R1, R2) which is preferably a balanced metal beam (120). Conditioning circuitry is provided which has as input the strain gauge output. The output of the conditioning circuit is inputted into occlusion sensing circuit. The output of occlusion sensing circuit is inputted into an air sensing circuit. The output of both the occlusion sensing circuit and the air sensing circuit are inputted into an analog to digital convertor which is monitored by a microprocessor for abnormal signals.
