A brief ICU residents' guide: Pharmacotherapy, pharmacokinetic aspects and dose adjustments in critically ill adult patients admitted to ICU

Critical illness could result in altered pharmacokinetic profiles of many commonly administered medications in ICU settings. Pharmacokinetic, which consists of a multistage process containing absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination, could be significantly altered in critically ill patients that emphasize the importance of individualized pharmacotherapy. The most important pharmacokinetic parameters that would be altered in critically ill patients are volume of distribution, clearance, trough concentration, peak concentration, and area under the curve. In this review, the most commonly administered drugs in critically ill patients have been discussed in detail based on the pharmacokinetic aspects of drugs and patients. The contents of this paper have been designed as a brief guideline for professionals who are practicing in ICU settings. Clinical data regarding precise drug dosing, renal dose adjustments, and dialyzability considerations have been included. The major goal of this review was to summarize the commonly prescribed drugs in ICU to facilitate the accessibility of various data need during the management of ICU admitted patients by the professional in this unit to minimize drug dosing errors. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.