My First Medication Record

[mb20and151]

I am trying to put together the required medication record for my patient for tomorrow morning. I have taken care of all of the medications except the K-riders and I'm not entirely sure what some of this means. It said:

PRN K-rider 10 mEq run over 4 hrs

mEq per hour x 5 hrs IV

PRN K-rider 10 mEq IV x 5 hrs

WF NS @ 250cc/x(with a circle over it) 2L then D5 1/2 NS c(with a line over it) 20 mEq KCl @150cc/hr

I know the K rider is potassium since she's dehydrated. I know the mEq is the units and it however long to let the IV go for it. We're supposed to include the brand and generic names for each of the medications - I can't find K-rider or potassium rider in my pharm book. Also, I'm not sure what WF is, what the x with a circle over it is, what the c with the line over it is or what the D5 means.

I'm sure I must sound like a complete idiot. This is our first time doing this and no one ever mentioned what those abbreviations mean. Most I could figure out on my own but that one in particular is baffling.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

potassium is not given for dehydration. k-rider, i believe, might be an iv potassium infusion only given iv as a piggyback infusion when the patient's potassium levels are very low, so the prn k-rider would only be given based upon lab draws. "meq per hour x 5 hrs iv" is an incomplete order. it does not specify the amount of meq to give or under what circumstances to give it. the other two prn orders look like they were probably written at two different times since the infusion rates are different, but you don't have any dates listed for them. these dosages would only be given based on a low potassium levels and i wouldn't give them without a further clarification of the orders from the doctor stating very clearly at what parameters he wants potassium given. some medical units do not allow the nurses to give iv potassium by direct infusion like this--only the icu nurses can do this. why? iv potassium infused faster than 10 meq an hour will kill the patient (they will go into heart block).

i have no idea what wf means.

x with a line over it = except. don't know what x with a circle over it means.

c with a line over it = with, so 2l then d5 1/2 ns c(with a line over it) 20 meq kcl @150cc/hr is 2 liters of d5 1/2ns with 20 meq potassium chloride mixed in it to infuse at 150cc/hour

these sound like old orders to me. i would go back through the doctors orders in the chart and find the dates where the doctor actually wrote them.