A 42 year old male (weight 62 kg) requires KCl supplementation due to hypokalaemia. The physician orders 40 mEq KCl to be given IV. Hospital policy recommends 10mEq/100ml as the maximum concentration and max administration rate of 10 mEq/hour. The pharmacy stocks KCl 20mEq/50ml. How would you prepare the KCl solution for peripheral administration to the patient and at what rate would you instruct the nurse to administer the medication? (3 marks)

The maximum recommended concentration of the infusion is 10 mEq/100ml.

To prepare this you take out 25ml of the 20m Eq/50ml stock solution, this contains 10 mEq of KCL. Then to this add 75 ml of normal saline (NS is used in hypokalaemia) to get 10 mEq of KCl in 100ml.

Rx for the patient is 40 mEq KCl, meaning the patient will need to receive 400ml of the 10 mEq/100ml solution.

The max administration rate is 10 mEq/hour, or 10 mEq/100ml/hr.

Instruct the nurse to administer 10 mEq KCl/100ml per hour for 4 hours.