Table 2.
Control and Study Group Characteristics
| Control Group | Study Group | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of alerts or alerting situations | ||
| Synchronous, no digoxin level | 220 | 169 |
| Synchronous, no K+ level | 35 | 37 |
| Synchronous, no Mg2+ level | 209 | 223 |
| Synchronous, low Mg2+ | 36 | 39 |
| Synchronous, low K+ | 23 | 31 |
| Asynchronous, low Mg2+ | 121 | 136 |
| Asynchronous, low K+ | 177 | 140 |
| Total | 821 | 775 |
| Electrolyte concentrations of alerts or alerting situations | Average (mmol/L) | Average (mmol/L) |
| Synchronous, low Mg2+ | 1.57 ± 0.19 | 1.62 ± 0.12 (NS) |
| Synchronous, low K+ | 3.17 ± 0.32 | 3.24 ± 0.18 (NS) |
| Asynchronous, low Mg2+ | 1.60 ± 0.16 | 1.60 ± 0.16 (NS) |
| Asynchronous, low K+ | 3.17 ± 0.33 | 3.20 ± 0.20 (NS) |
| Critical results for K+ < 3.0 | ||
| Asynchronous, low K+ | 24 (13.5%) | 18 (12.9%) (NS) |
| Number of unique patients | 310 | 310 |
| Age (yr) | 61 ± 16 | 59 ± 20 (NS) |
| % Female | 48% | 53% (NS) |
± correspond to the standard deviation; NS designates no statistically significant difference between the values in the control and study groups.