Hi Bon.
Your serum potassium level is in range and is good.
The "slightly haemolysed" comment refers to the nature of your blood sample as it was analysed.
When blood is taken from you for testing it goes to the lab where it will be centrifuged to separate the red blood cells out from the plasma, so the plasma can be analysed. In some cases, especially if the blood has been difficult to draw from a patient or it has been drawn too quickly, the red cells can actually burst and release their contents into the plasma. The plasma which should be a pale straw colour then becomes any shade of orange to dark red depending on the level of haemolysis.
This can actually affect some laboratory tests and can give false levels. In the case of potassium there is a higher concentration of potassium in the red cells than the plasma, so in the case of haemolysed samples the potassium level may be slightly elevated from its correct level.
Analysers these days have special functions to measure the amount of haemolysis is a sample and will not release a result for authorisation if the test is unmeasurable.
So.....in short, your actual potassium result may be about 0.3-0-5 mmol/L lower but you are still well in the normal range and ok.
Hope that helps
x
