Question about acid baths

LisaBateman · Mar 6, 2014

Hello...if a pt is run on a 3k instead of a 2k their potassium level wont be decreased as low as it should be, and in turn their serum potassium remains elevated, which could cause cardiac issues. After initiating dialysis on each pt, you as well as your charge nurse should be checking the pts dialysis prescription to ensure its accuracy and there are no errors. Hope this helps!

idialyze, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2014

Yes, please be extremely careful to use the correct bath, in a patient with an elevated K, a 3K bath won't bring the K down enough to be safe.

Elevated K can lead to lethal cardiac arrythmias!

Nursetkfb · Mar 8, 2014

At my clinic, we have a 'safety check' performed by another tech/nurse prior to treatment to verify physician's orders. This helps especially in cases where the nurse cannot get to the patient for assessment right away. The safety check is signed off by the one verifying that machine settings/orders are correct.

ausrnurse · Mar 13, 2014

The acid bath is a drug and needs to be treated like one.

jlautier · Mar 17, 2014

Everyone is being a total jerk here, **** happens. Listen the higher the K concentration the more K the pt's blood will keep. 3k will give K to the patient, the regular bath doesn't affect the K level in a patient, and a 1 K will remove K; its all about that equilibrium. Chances are if you are in chronic, the mistake isn't that big of a deal, these patients bodies are already compromised and have adjusted to running w/ higher serum electrolyte levels. Rest easy, the pt is better off getting tx w/ the wrong bath rather than not having a tx at all. Just make sure when you second sign your machine you check the bath prior to connecting the patient!

uRNmyway, ASN, RN · Mar 18, 2014

Everyone is being a total jerk here **** happens. Listen the higher the K concentration the more K the pt's blood will keep. 3k will give K to the patient, the regular bath doesn't affect the K level in a patient, and a 1 K will remove K; its all about that equilibrium. Chances are if you are in chronic, the mistake isn't that big of a deal, these patients bodies are already compromised and have adjusted to running w/ higher serum electrolyte levels. Rest easy, the pt is better off getting tx w/ the wrong bath rather than not having a tx at all. Just make sure when you second sign your machine you check the bath prior to connecting the patient![/quote']
Geez, that's kinda like telling someone 'So what if the order is for hydralazine 100mg and you gave half the dose to the patient with SBP>200 . The patient is sick, and you treated them, it's better than no treatment, right?'
Well yeah, better than no treatment. But it's still a med error, and could have repercussions. It is not good practice to tell someone not to worry about a med error.