Endocrine metabolic emergencies.

Endocrine metabolic emergencies are common clinical entities seen by most health care professionals in acute care medicine. Except for cardiopulmonary arrest, few situations require such rapid institution of immediate drug therapy to reverse life-threatening metabolic imbalances. To safely guide patients through these situations, the physician requires a basic knowledge and familiarity with the approaches, indications, and limitations of drug therapy as a component of care.