Hypokalemia Case Study 3B – 3B
Manuel Gonzalez is a 39 year old Hispanic male who was recently diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis. His partner, Akachi, and Manuel went camping. He thinks he must have eaten something that upset his stomach. He has had persistent diarrhea for the past 3 days. He had fever in the beginning but since that time, he has been afebrile for the last 2 days. Upon physical examination, you notice his mucus membranes are dry, but his skin turgor and capillary refill are normal.
As the nurse practitioner, you order a BMP. His labs results are below:
| Basic Metabolic Panel: | ||
| BUN | 30 | (7 – 20 mg/dL) |
| CO2 | 27 | (20 – 29 mmol/L) |
| Creatinine | 1.1 | (0.8 – 1.2 mg/dL) |
| Glucose | 90 | (64 – 100 mg/dL) |
| Chloride | 101 | (101 – 111 mmol/L) |
| Potassium | 3.0 | (3.7 – 5.2 mEq/L) |
| Sodium | 136 | (136 – 144 mEq/L) |
Questions:
- Discuss laboratory abnormalities in the BMP.
- What are non-pharmacologic treatment strategies for the management of hypokalemia?
- What pharmacologic treatment would you prescribe today (be sure to include, at a minimum, drug name, dose, route, frequency)?
- Compare and contrast at least 5 oral potassium replacement products. Why did you choose your treatment option over other available options (if applicable)?
- What is the mechanism of action of your selected pharmacologic agent? How does the mechanism of action correlate with the physiology/pathophysiology of hypokalemia?
- What are the most common adverse effects?
- What is the cost of your selected treatment option?
- Discuss pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of your selected pharmacologic agent (be sure to include, at a minimum, onset, peak, duration, half-life, etc).
