Ep. 38 Mystery Diagnoses and Hyperkalemia

Dr. Ramsay joins Steve, Dan, and Holly in this episode to discuss a few unique case studies. The episode begins with Steve walking the team through a call that raised many questions for his crew. As the case is discussed, the listener is encouraged to critically consider the patient’s history, symptoms, presentation, and additional lab values as they are given. At the same time, Dr. Ramsay talks through his process for assessing and managing this patient and ultimately comes to a diagnosis.

The second half of this episode provides an overview of hyperkalemia - what it is, how it happens, how it often presents, and how it may be stabilized in the field and definitively treated in the hospital. Field providers do not often understand hyperkalemia and its field treatment, so the team breaks down the etiology of hyper-k and the mechanisms of action for the classic medications used to treat hyper-k in the field. The listener also gets insight into how these patients are managed in the hospital in the short and long term, which helps paint a complete picture of the hyper-k patient.

This episode demonstrates the importance of history gathering and provides a deeper insight into lab values and how they are used to diagnose patients with less obvious disease processes. Listeners should walk away feeling better equipped to identify both endocrine and electrolyte imbalances in patients with unique presentations.