Obsgynaecritcare

Merry Xmas! This weeks post was inspired by a recent unexpected case of severe hyperkalaemia in a severe pre-eclamptic - I have put together a fictitious case which is a little more severe in order to illustrate the principles of managing hyperkalaemia - I hope you enjoy & take it easy over Xmas! CASE HISTORY (*A fictitious patient history ) Your pager goes off - code blue medical labour ward! On arrival you are told the patient for whom the code was called has just arrived following an urgent transfer from another hospital. She presented to their service at 31 weeks with a headache, BP 190/100, proteinuria and mildly raised creatinine. She was diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia, given labetalol, nifedipine and then transferred. She now appears confused with the following vital signs: HR 33/min, BP 74/55, SpO2 92%, RR 17/min (*Image courtesy www.lifeinthefastlane ) An immediate venous blood gas shows the following result: Na 139, K 8.4, pH 7.23, pCO2 37, pO2 63, Lactate 1.8 How are you going to ma