K Rider

[vikitorijah]

Hi,

I recently learned about K Riders and we had a simulation involving a patient with 1 L 0.9 NaCl with 20 meq KCL at an 8 hour rate. I do not understand how an order of 40 mEq in 250 mL over 4 hours equates to 67.5 mL. From my understand, the maximum potassium you can administer is 10 mEq per hour.  And that 20 mEq of "extra" potassium was added to the 250 mL to make 270 mL. But why? 

 

[kayji, BSN]

I would recommend being very careful with your units when looking at this question. At the risk of stating of the obvious, mEq is not the same as mL. It might be the case that you have a solution with a concentration of 1 mEq/mL, but that isn't always the case and can't be assumed.

In order for you to find the rate (mL/hr), you need to know what the concentration (mEq/mL) of your potassium is, and add the appropriate volume (mL) for the prescribed quantity of potassium (mEq) to the total volume to be infused. It is added because the potassium solution is being injected into the bag of fluids.