Addressing Hyperkalemia Assessment

Todd Brothers, clinical assistant professor, University of Rhode Island, explains how to address hyperkalemia assessed in patients. This video was filmed at the ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) 54th Clinical Meeting & Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Todd Brothers: In the acute care setting, the first and foremost—most patients are asymptomatic. So it’s not necessarily just the serum potassium level, but more importantly if they’re having EKG changes, or hemodynamic instability. If those 2 are identified then aggressive treatment, particularly with calcium gluconate to stabilize the cardiac membrane to prevent life-threatening arrhythmia, is paramount. If you assess that the patient doesn’t have a life-threatening event, you have a little bit more time on your hands, then you could go through different treatment options for the long-term or chronic type therapy.