Reduced Versus Conventional Dose Insulin for Hyperkalemia Treatment.

BACKGROUND: Using a reduced dose of 5 units of regular insulin has been proposed as a strategy to mitigate the risk of hypoglycemia when treating hyperkalemia. The comparative efficacy and safety of this strategy to conventional 10 units is not well established. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of reduced and conventional dosed insulin for hyperkalemia treatment. METHODS: Electronic medication administration reports of conventional or reduced doses of insulin given for hyperkalemia treatment were reviewed from July 2013 to September 2015. The primary outcome was reduction in serum potassium. RESULTS: Ninety-two administrations of reduced dose insulin and 309 administrations of conventional dose insulin were included. No significant difference was found in potassium reduction between the groups (-0.096 mmol/L, P value = .2210). Post hoc subgroup analysis of patients with serum potassium > 6 mmol/L revealed a lower reduction in potassium in the reduced dose group compared to the conventional dose group (difference: -0.238 mmol/L, P value = .018). CONCLUSIONS: Conventional dose insulin may be more effective than reduced dose regular insulin at baseline serum potassium levels >6 mmol/L in the treatment of hyperkalemia. Frequent monitoring of serum potassium and glucose after administration of insulin is necessary to confirm adequate response and avoidance of hypoglycemia.

Effect of an electronic medical record alert for severe sepsis among ED patients.

BACKGROUND: Severe sepsis and septic shock are a major health concern worldwide. The objective of this study is to determine if Severe Sepsis Best Practice Alert (SS-BPA) implementation was associated with improved processes of care and clinical outcomes among patients with severe sepsis or septic shock presenting to the emergency department (ED). METHODS: This is a single-center, before-and-after observational study. The intervention group (n = 103) consisted of adult patients presenting to the ED with severe sepsis or septic shock during a 7-month period after implementation of the SS-BPA. The control group (n = 111) consisted of patients meeting the same criteria over a prior 7-month period. The SS-BPA primarily acts by automated, real-time, algorithm-based detection of severe sepsis or septic shock via the electronic medical record system. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included hospital length of stay (LOS), time to antibiotic administration, and proportion of patients who received antibiotics within the target 60 minutes. RESULTS: Time to antibiotics was significantly reduced in the SS-BPA cohort (29 vs 61.5 minutes, P < .001). In addition, there was a higher proportion of patients who received antibiotics within 60 minutes (76.7 vs 48.6%; P < .001). On multivariable analysis, in-hospital mortality was not significantly reduced in the intervention group (odds ratio, 0.64; 95% confidence interval, 0.26-1.57). Multivariable analysis of LOS indicated a significant reduction among patients in the SS-BPA cohort (geometric mean ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.53-0.82). CONCLUSION: Implementation of the SS-BPA for severe sepsis or septic shock among ED patients is associated with significantly improved timeliness of antibiotic administration and reduced hospital LOS.