Safety of Continuous Potassium Chloride Infusion in Critical Care

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2009-10-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Patients in critical care often require supplemental potassium chloride if levels in their blood are below acceptable level. Common practice is to administer a single dose of potassium chloride under controlled conditions via a drip, before checking if a further dose is required. The purpose of this study is to ensure that it is safe to administer potassium chloride continuously with the dose varied according to patient needs.

• Phase: Phase 4
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Any inpatient on the investigating unit with a serum potassium level of less than 3.8mmol/L

• arterial line for blood sampling and central venous access for infusion administration in situ

• continuous 12-lead ECG monitoring

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with a serum potassium ≥ 3.8mmol/L

• Renal dysfunction with serum creatinine 50% greater than the upper end of the normal reference range (i.e.: > 180micromol/L) or urine output less than 0.5ml/kg/hr for 6 consecutive hours, or the requirement for dialysis

• Burns

• Hypomagnesaemia (≤ 0.7mmol/L), however patients may be enrolled after the hypomagnesaemia is corrected