Hypercalcemia of Malignancy: An Emergency Medicine Simulation

Hypercalcemia is a poor prognostic factor associated with malignancy. The signs and symptoms of hypercalcemia that the patients present to the emergency department are vague and often overlap with the general symptoms of cancer itself or the adverse effects of the chemotherapy. Given that the development of hypercalcemia of malignancy can present with imminent danger to the patient and is a treatable condition, emergency physicians should know how to recognize and treat it. It also marks a time at which discussions regarding plans of care should be initiated with the patients. In this report, we describe a simulation case that can be used to train emergency medicine residents to both recognize and treat hypercalcemia of malignancy and to initiate the discussion of goals of care.