Prescription Writing Practice

Hyperkalaemia in an elderly patient with chronic heart failure and renal impairment

Write a prescription for hyperkalaemia complicating chronic heart failure and chronic kidney disease and have every line marked: drug choice, dose, route, frequency and duration, checked against the patient's allergies, current medicines, renal function and the interaction database, with each error explained.

hard8 scoring rulesrenal impairment

Patient
74 years, male, 78 kg
Diagnosis
Hyperkalaemia complicating chronic heart failure and chronic kidney disease
Renal function
eGFR 38 mL/min/1.73m²
Allergies
None known
Current medicines
ramipril; spironolactone; furosemide; bisoprolol; aspirin

The scenario

A 74-year-old man presents to the emergency department with two days of nausea, weakness and reduced appetite. He has chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and stage 3 chronic kidney disease. On examination, he is alert but drowsy, heart rate is 44 bpm and irregular, blood pressure 118/72 mmHg, respiratory rate 16/min, oxygen saturation 97% on room air, temperature 36.8 °C. He has mild pulmonary oedema at the lung bases and no peripheral oedema. ECG shows sinus bradycardia with short PR interval and tall, peaked T waves in the precordial leads, with a QRS duration of 120 ms. Blood tests: serum potassium 6.3 mmol/L (reference range 3.5-5.0), serum creatinine 1.6 mg/dL, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 38 mL/min/1.73 m², urea 18 mmol/L, glucose 5.2 mmol/L, bicarbonate 20 mmol/L. His regular medicines include ramipril, spironolactone, furosemide, bisoprolol and aspirin. He has no known drug allergies. You are the on-call doctor. Write the immediate management prescriptions for this patient's hyperkalaemia and state which of his regular medicines should be withheld.

Your task

Current medicines: ramipril 5 mg once daily, spironolactone 25 mg once daily, furosemide 40 mg once daily, bisoprolol 5 mg once daily, aspirin 75 mg once daily. No known drug allergies. He has a history of hypertension and chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. He does not have diabetes mellitus. He has never smoked. He drinks minimal alcohol.

What gets marked

  • Whether you chose an indicated drug, and whether you avoided the contraindicated ones.
  • Dose, route, frequency and duration against the range for this patient.
  • Renal and hepatic dose adjustment where this patient's numbers demand it.
  • Allergy cross-reactivity and interactions with the medicines already on the chart.
  • The instructions and monitoring you write, not only the drug you pick.

8 scoring rules apply to this scenario. A single critical error fails the attempt whatever the score.

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A free account opens the prescription pad: search the formulary, write the chart, and have it marked line by line by the safety engine.

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Educational content for students and clinicians in training. It does not replace professional judgement, local protocols or current prescribing information.