Every dangerous electrolyte problem has an immediate stabilizing order and a separate correction order. The board traps are about sequence, speed, and knowing which step only buys time.
The miss this page kills: a student knew to give calcium first in hyperkalemia, then second-guessed and gave sodium bicarbonate instead, because a list of the drugs put bicarb earlier. A list of drugs is not a treatment order. Letter order is not clinical order.
A 61-year-old man on hemodialysis who missed his last two sessions arrives weak and nauseated. Potassium is 7.4 mEq/L. The monitor shows tall, tented (peaked) T waves that are starting to widen the QRS.
What is the very FIRST drug you push?
Sodium bicarbonate, because the mnemonic lists it first
IV calcium gluconate, to protect the heart
Insulin with glucose, to drive potassium into cells
Call for emergent dialysis and wait for the machine
Calcium goes in first. Always, when the ECG is changing.
Calcium does not lower the potassium by a single point. It raises the threshold the heart cell needs to fire, so the myocardium stops drifting toward fibrillation while you set up everything else. It buys you the heart.
Bicarbonate only helps meaningfully if the patient is acidotic, and it is a shifting agent at best, never the protector. Insulin and glucose shift potassium into cells (your next move). Dialysis is the actual cure here, but it takes time to start. Protect the heart, then shift, then eliminate.
Quick route: pick the move that should happen before memorizing labels.
Good. The board pays you for routing the deciding clue, then naming the label.
The Frame
Stabilize, Shift, Eliminate. And for sodium, go slow.
One frame runs through every emergency on this page. Learn it once and the order traps stop working on you.
🛡️ STABILIZE the membrane
IV calcium (gluconate, or chloride through a central line if peri-arrest). It does NOT lower the number. It raises the firing threshold so the heart cannot fibrillate. ECG changes mandate calcium right now.
Onset: minutes. Lasts: about 30 to 60 minutes. Re-dose if ECG changes persist.
↻ SHIFT it into cells
Insulin plus glucose is the workhorse. Nebulized albuterol adds to it. Sodium bicarbonate only helps meaningfully if the patient is acidotic. This buys time, it does not remove potassium.
Buys: about 30 to 60 minutes. Watch for hypoglycemia after insulin.
💧 ELIMINATE it from the body
Loop diuretic if making urine. Potassium binders (patiromer, sodium zirconium cyclosilicate, sodium polystyrene sulfonate). Dialysis is definitive in renal failure. This is the only part that actually cures.
The real fix. Everything before this was buying time to get here.
The Speed Rule (the other half of the page)
For sodium, both directions, the danger is not the number itself, it is correcting it too fast. Low sodium, go slow: a fast fix gives osmotic demyelination. High sodium, also go slow: a fast drop swells the brain. The brain hates a fast change in either direction.
Tap each line to reveal why the order is locked.
Why does calcium go first when it does not even lower the potassium?
Because the thing that kills in hyperkalemia is the heart, not the lab value. High potassium drags the resting membrane toward the firing threshold until the muscle becomes unstable. Calcium pushes the threshold back up, away from rest. You are not treating the number, you are keeping the heart beating long enough to treat the number.
If shifting buys time, why not lead with insulin?
Insulin and glucose are excellent, but they move potassium into cells over 15 to 30 minutes. The heart can fibrillate in the meantime. Calcium works in minutes and holds the line while the shift catches up. Protection is instant, shifting is delayed, so protection goes first.
Why is dialysis listed last if it is the cure?
Because it is the slowest to start. You cannot conjure a dialysis circuit in two minutes. So you stabilize and shift to survive the wait, then eliminate. Last in the sequence does not mean least important. It means it takes the longest to deliver.
Potassium
High K and Low K: opposite ends, both deadly
Tap between them. Notice the FIRST move and the FIX are different boxes, and that low potassium hides a magnesium problem.
Hyperkalemia
Hypokalemia
Hyperkalemia
The heart-stopper. Order is everything.
First Move (keeps them alive)
IV calcium gluconate (calcium chloride via central line if peri-arrest). Onset minutes. Does NOT lower potassium. Raises the threshold so the heart will not fibrillate.
The Fix (actually cures)
Eliminate it: loop diuretic if making urine, potassium binders, and dialysis in renal failure. Shifting (insulin + glucose, albuterol) is the bridge in between.
ECG Progression
Peaked T waves → PR prolongation and flattened P → widened QRS → sine wave → VF or asystole.
📊 Peaked T waves (hyperkalemia)
Tall, tented (peaked) T waves are the first ECG sign of hyperkalemia. Tap to expand.
Pseudohyperkalemia from a hemolyzed sample or fist clenching during the draw. Normal ECG with a sky-high potassium? Redraw before you treat.
Shift Agents
Insulin + glucose (workhorse), nebulized albuterol. Bicarbonate helps meaningfully only if acidotic.
Board Trap
A memory list of the drugs is NOT the treatment order. Calcium goes in first regardless of where it sits in any acronym. If the ECG is changing, the next thing you do is push calcium.
Hypokalemia
Replace it, but check the magnesium or it will not hold.
First Move
Replace potassium (oral if mild, IV if severe or symptomatic). On the monitor, watch for arrhythmia.
The Fix that makes it stick
Check and replace magnesium. Low magnesium drives renal potassium wasting; the potassium will not correct until the magnesium is repleted.
ECG Progression
Flattened T waves → U waves → ST depression → QT prolongation with torsades risk.
Causes
Vomiting and diarrhea, diuretics, hyperaldosteronism, insulin, alkalosis, beta-agonists.
Why magnesium matters
Low magnesium keeps the kidney leaking potassium. Pour potassium in the top, it runs out the bottom, until you fix the magnesium leak.
The U wave
A small deflection after the T wave. When the T flattens and a U appears, think low potassium and a heart drifting toward torsades.
📊 U waves (hypokalemia)
Flattened T waves with a U wave appearing after the T point to low potassium. Tap to expand.
Board Trap
Refractory hypokalemia (will not come up no matter how much you give) is a magnesium question. Replete the magnesium and the potassium finally rises.
The First-Move Bay
One patient. One crashing rhythm. One life-saving first move.
No timer, no rush. Watch the rhythm change, then choose the move that keeps the heart beating. A wrong first move plays out so you feel why order matters.
Resuscitation Bay · Bed 4
MARCUS
Age 58 · missed dialysis x2
"Brought in weak and short of breath. Potassium back at 7.6. Watch his rhythm. It is changing in front of you."
The rhythm is morphing
Peaked T waves. The QRS is starting to widen.
Pattern locked
STABILIZE → SHIFT → ELIMINATE
RouteCalcium first: raise the threshold, protect the myocardium in minutes
PearlA drug LIST is not a drug ORDER. Calcium goes first no matter where it lands in the acronym.
Calcium & Magnesium
The membrane twins, and the dependency that trips everyone
Calcium runs the QT. Magnesium runs calcium AND potassium. Fix the magnesium first or nothing else holds.
Hypercalcemia
Hypocalcemia
Low Magnesium
High Magnesium
Hypercalcemia
Stones, bones, groans, and psychiatric overtones.
First Move
Isotonic IV fluids first: volume plus dilution. Most of these patients are dry, and fluids drop the calcium while you work up the cause.
The Fix
Calcitonin (fast, but tachyphylaxis in about 48 hours) bridges to a bisphosphonate (definitive but slow, 2 to 4 days). Then treat the cause.
ECG / Clinical
Short QT. Symptoms: kidney stones, bone pain, abdominal pain and constipation, confusion and depression.
Causes
Primary hyperparathyroidism (the outpatient cause), malignancy / PTHrP (the inpatient cause), granulomatous disease.
The Loop-Diuretic Trap
Do NOT reflexively give a loop diuretic. Only add one if the patient is volume overloaded. Fluids first, always.
Outpatient vs Inpatient
Calm, chronic, mildly high calcium found on routine labs? Think parathyroid. Sick, fast, very high calcium in a hospital? Think cancer.
Board Trap
Fluids before furosemide. The old "loops for calcium" reflex is wrong unless the patient is already overloaded. Rehydrate first.
Hypocalcemia
Twitchy, crampy, long QT. Check the magnesium.
First Move (if symptomatic)
IV calcium gluconate for tetany, seizure, or laryngospasm. Symptomatic hypocalcemia is an emergency.
The Fix that makes it hold
Check and correct magnesium. Low magnesium keeps calcium low. Use albumin-corrected or ionized calcium so you treat the real value.
ECG / Signs
Long QT. Chvostek sign (tap the facial nerve, the cheek twitches) and Trousseau sign (BP cuff inflation triggers carpal spasm).
📷 Trousseau sign (hypocalcemia)
A blood pressure cuff held above systolic triggers carpal spasm: the bedside Trousseau sign of low calcium. Tap to expand.
Causes
Post-thyroid or post-parathyroid surgery, low magnesium, chronic kidney disease, vitamin D deficiency, pancreatitis, hypoparathyroidism.
Why correct for albumin
Half of serum calcium rides on albumin. Low albumin reads as low calcium even when the active (ionized) calcium is fine. Correct it or measure ionized directly.
The post-op clue
Tingling around the mouth and fingers a day after a thyroidectomy is hypocalcemia from bruised or removed parathyroids until proven otherwise.
Board Trap
Calcium that will not correct is a magnesium problem, the same dependency as potassium. Replete the magnesium and the calcium follows.
Low Magnesium
The hidden cause behind torsades and refractory potassium and calcium.
First Move
Replace magnesium. IV magnesium is also the treatment for torsades de pointes, so this is doubly important.
The Fix it unlocks
Repleting magnesium unlocks potassium and calcium correction. Until magnesium is fixed, those two stay refractory.
ECG / Clinical
Torsades de pointes (polymorphic VT, the QRS twists around the baseline). Tremor, hyperreflexia, weakness.
📊 Torsades de pointes (low Mg)
Polymorphic VT whose QRS twists around the baseline. The treatment is IV magnesium even when the level looks normal. Tap to expand.
Low magnesium often drags potassium and calcium down with it. One lab, three problems. Fix magnesium and all three improve.
Torsades move
A twisting wide-complex tachycardia? IV magnesium, even if the level looks normal. It stabilizes the rhythm.
Board Trap
Magnesium is the treatment for torsades AND the unlock for refractory potassium and calcium. When the alcoholic patient has torsades, the answer is magnesium.
High Magnesium
Reflexes vanish first. The classic case is on a magnesium drip.
First Move
IV calcium gluconate to stabilize, the same membrane logic as hyperkalemia. Calcium antagonizes the magnesium at the heart and neuromuscular junction.
The Fix
Stop the magnesium source and support breathing. Add fluids and a loop diuretic, or dialysis if renal failure.
Early Warning
Loss of deep tendon reflexes is the early sign, then respiratory depression, then cardiac arrest. Reflexes are your monitor.
Causes
Preeclampsia on a magnesium sulfate infusion is the classic case. Also renal failure plus magnesium-containing antacids or laxatives.
The OB case
A preeclamptic on a magnesium drip who loses her reflexes is magnesium toxicity. Stop the drip and give calcium gluconate.
Why calcium works
Magnesium and calcium fight over the same membrane channels. Flooding calcium back in pushes the excess magnesium off the heart and nerves.
Board Trap
Lost reflexes on a magnesium drip equals magnesium toxicity. Reach for calcium gluconate, stop the magnesium, protect the airway.
The dependency to never forget
You cannot fix potassium OR calcium until you fix the magnesium. Low magnesium keeps both leaking. It is the quiet electrolyte that controls the loud ones.
Sodium
Both directions, go slow. The brain hates a fast fix.
Sodium emergencies are not about the number. They are about the speed of correction. Too fast either way damages the brain, in opposite ways.
⬇️ Hyponatremia: correct SLOWLY
No faster than about 8 mEq/L in 24 hours. Overcorrecting causes osmotic demyelination (central pontine myelinolysis), which can lock the patient in. Severe symptomatic cases (seizure, coma) get small boluses of 3% hypertonic saline, and the daily ceiling still applies.
Work up by volume status and urine osmolality / sodium. Euvolemic with concentrated urine points to SIADH.
⬆️ Hypernatremia: also correct SLOWLY
Lowering sodium too fast causes cerebral edema (the brain swells as water rushes back in). Replace the free water deficit gradually. Usually a water problem: diabetes insipidus, GI losses, or a patient who cannot access water (elderly, infant).
The brain adapts to chronic sodium changes. Undo them slowly so it can adapt back.
Tap to reveal the mechanism behind each direction.
Why does correcting LOW sodium too fast shrink and damage the brain?
In chronic hyponatremia the brain unloads solutes to match the dilute blood, so its cells sit at a new low-osmolality set point. Raise the serum sodium fast and water is yanked out of those adapted cells. They shrivel, and the myelin in the pons gets demyelinated. Fast up equals demyelination. That is why low sodium goes slow.
Why does correcting HIGH sodium too fast swell the brain?
In chronic hypernatremia the brain pulls solutes IN to hold onto water against the salty blood. Drop the serum sodium fast and water floods into those loaded cells. They swell, and you get cerebral edema and seizures. Fast down equals brain swelling. That is why high sodium also goes slow.
When is it okay to move fast at all?
Only the actively seizing or comatose hyponatremic patient gets rapid initial correction: small 3% saline boluses to stop the seizure. Even then you cap the total daily rise at about 8 mEq/L. Emergency boluses stop the seizure, the daily ceiling protects the brain. Both rules apply at once.
One sentence to carry into the exam
Sodium both ways, go slow. Too fast up gives demyelination. Too fast down gives brain swelling. The number is rarely the emergency; the speed is.
First, decide
The crashing patient: pick the FIRST move before the branch opens
Challenge yourself before the algorithm shows. Commit to a first move, then see the full branch.
A patient on the monitor has a potassium of 7.2 mEq/L with widening QRS complexes on the screen. You have calcium, insulin and glucose, albuterol, and a dialysis nurse on the way.
Before you see the algorithm: what is your FIRST move?
1. STABILIZE. ECG changing? IV calcium gluconate now. Minutes to act, protects the heart, buys you the rest of the sequence.
2. SHIFT. Insulin + glucose (workhorse), nebulized albuterol. Bicarbonate only if acidotic. Buys 30 to 60 minutes.
3. ELIMINATE. Loop diuretic if making urine, potassium binders, and dialysis (definitive in renal failure).
Memory peg: 4.5 is the bouncer for pH; for potassium the peg is "calcium clears the door first." Protection before everything.
Make it stick
Five hooks for the order and speed traps
Tap each card to reveal the hook. These are built to survive a tired night before the exam.
💚
Hyperkalemia order
Stabilize, shift, eliminate. Calcium first keeps the heart beating. It does not lower the number. Protect, then move it, then remove it.
tap to reveal
📋
List vs order
A drug list is not a drug order. Calcium goes in first no matter where it lands in the acronym. Letter order is not clinical order.
tap to reveal
🧬
Sodium speed
Sodium both ways, go slow. Too fast UP gives demyelination. Too fast DOWN gives brain swelling. The speed is the emergency, not the number.
tap to reveal
🧮
Magnesium unlock
You cannot fix potassium or calcium until you fix the magnesium. The quiet electrolyte controls the loud ones.
tap to reveal
🩸
Mag toxicity
Lost reflexes on a mag drip equals magnesium toxicity. Reach for calcium gluconate, stop the drip, protect the airway. Classic in preeclampsia.
tap to reveal
Board Walkthrough
The full clinical bank
teaching vignettes. One at a time, shuffled, never repeats until the bank is exhausted. Right-click or long-press a choice to cross it out. Double-click or double-tap to highlight.
Vignette 1 of 8
Sources: Built from standard board-review physiology and emergency management of fluid and electrolyte disorders. Membrane-stabilization, transcellular shift, and elimination logic per general internal medicine and critical care references. All vignettes are original and rebuilt from mechanism.
Medically reviewed by Kaitlyn Cocuzzo, MD and Fatima Ali, DO · Last reviewed June 2026
Bone Wizardry is an independent educational resource for visual learning in the medical sciences. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any licensing or examination board, contains no real or recalled examination questions, and does not guarantee any educational or examination outcome.
