Wednesday, June 24, 2009

QT prolongation in hospitalized patients

The horribly ill patients who are typically admitted to the hospital often have electrolyte disturbances or other conditions that may prolong the QT interval. This calls for special vigilance in drug therapy, as the list of QT prolonging drugs is daunting. This brief article from The Hospitalist has some pointers. You could just about make the case for doing an electrocardiogram on all hospitalized patients.

No comments: