How Can Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics Impact Stewardship?

Emily Heil, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and Contagion^® Editorial Advisory Board Member, explains why it is important that antibiotic stewards understand pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability

“It is essential for antibiotic stewards to understand pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antimicrobials because, unfortunately, we’re in a situation where we don’t have a huge antibiotic research and development pipeline. There are certainly more things under development than there used to be, but we still have to work to maximize what we still have available to us. That means making sure that patients are on the best dose of an antimicrobial for them.

PK/PD (pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics) really is the study of how to give the best dose for that patient. You can maximize the utility of antimicrobials in situations where maybe [the patients] are not fully susceptible, [in order to] maximize what we have available to us.

I think it would be important to consider addressing dose-optimization and accounting for PK/PD of antibiotics as part of an antimicrobial stewardship program. So that’s something that is traditionally done by a pharmacist and not necessarily just stewardship pharmacists but pharmacists in general. This is something that should be considered in antimicrobial stewardship activity, is really focusing on dose optimization within your institution.”