Treatment and prophylaxis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in HIV-infected patients

This article discusses the management of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) taught to the third-year PharmD students enrolled in the Therapeutics V course (required) at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy. Both pathophysiology and treatment;Ire taught in concert in the Therapeutics I-V courses. Approximately one hour is devoted to PCP, which is part of a four hour lecture sequence allocated to the management of opportunistic infections in people with AIDS. Students had lectures on the pharmacology of the drugs used in the treatment and prophylaxis of PCP in the proceeding academic year. However, reinforcement of pharmacologic data with the clinical application of this knowledge is emphasized during the lecture. A separate one hour recitation of AIDS-related cases is done in an accompanying course titled, Applied Therapeutics. The lecture weaves basic drug facts with various clinical scenarios to facilitate the student's thought process of how best to manage PCP in patients with AIDS. Utilization of a table containing pertinent pharmacologic information coupled with therapeutic algorithms help students develop a systemic approach to provide pharmaceutical care to patients with P. carinii infection. The algorithms, originally constructed for teaching purposes, were developed from results from clinical trials published in the medical literature.