Patients’ medical records were reviewed to compare
the number of potassium replacement events
between patients who had potassium added to their
maintenance intravenous fluid and those who did
not at any time during their ICU stay. Current policy
at Summa Western Reserve Hospital, Cuyahoga Falls,
Ohio, calls for a potassium bolus of 40 mmol of potassium
chloride or acetate in 100 mL of physiological
saline delivered over 4 hours if a patient’s serum potassium
level decreases to less than 3.5 mmol/L