potassium replacement protocol

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Hello! I work in a med/surg floor. They recently change our K protocol from 20meq po q4 into 20-40 meq po q2 depending on the k of course... My question is, is it safe to give 40 meq of kcl liquid q2 hours all at once? Or would it be better to give it 20 then wait 30 minutes to give the next 20? Some say that it can cause gastric irritation if you give the whole 40.... What do you guys think? Thanks!

The infant I give it to via NGT throws up if we give the dose all at one shot. We cannot add it to the formula bag..so we just give a mL at a time over about 1/2 hour to spread it out. She only gets 21meq/day or 5.25meq/dose....but we used to give 10.5 meq x 2 doses.

Good luck with that if you are in the hospital with 5 other Pts.:lol2:

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
It is alcohol based so it will burn otherwise.

What do you mean by this? As in mixed with alcohol? I'm just confused trying to 'picture' what composes this formulation.

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op, i think you're asking about giving what is to you a double dose of the liquid potassium. now i think you have the idea to mix it in something, not give it straight.

and no matter how you give your liquid potassium, do your patients a favor and mix it with something. i've had a lot of people tell me that it's easier to take, from a taste standpoint, if it's mixed in something like beef/chicken broth or tomato juice rather than sweet fruit juce, because it is a salty flavor, so that's what i do. do you put salt in your oj?

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.
op, i think you're asking about giving what is to you a double dose of the liquid potassium. now i think you have the idea to mix it in something, not give it straight.

and no matter how you give your liquid potassium, do your patients a favor and mix it with something. i've had a lot of people tell me that it's easier to take, from a taste standpoint, if it's mixed in something like beef/chicken broth or tomato juice rather than sweet fruit juce, because it is a salty flavor, so that's what i do. do you put salt in your oj?

i have actually never tasted liquid kcl, though i know it tastes awful. it smells good (kind of orangey) but i know the taste is a different story.

with that said, patients have told me it tastes okay when mixed with apple juice, so that's what i do. :)

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