Potassium Phosphate ("K-phos")

Over the weekend, I had a patient with Dr. Scott that had a phosphate of 0.8 mmol/L.  Phosphate < 1.0 mmol/L is an indication for IV repletion.  IV repletion involves giving potassium phosphate.  An important clinical question, therefore, is how much potassium does the patient actually get?

• 1 mmol of IV phosphate delivers 1.46 mEq of potassium
• Recommended infusion rate is 5 mmol/hr
• Rapid infusion may lead to severe hypocalcemia, hypotension, acute renal failure, hypomagnesemia, and hypernatremia