Potassium and 911

Potassium remains one of those daily ironies in the ER. Because of the critical lab results reporting requirements of The Joint Commission, we get K = 3.0 as “critical” several times a day. Contrast that with “routine” labs drawn by the primary care provider where K = 7.0 or 7.7, and the patient isn’t called until 24 hours after the draw and told to call 911. How frequent is this? I’ve seen about 4 this year. Defies logic!