ABSTRACT
Drug therapy is an essential component of critical-care management. The principles of clinical pharmacology outlined inthis chapter constitute the necessary knowledge for providing a rational approach to drug administration in critically ill patients. This chapter initially reviews the basic pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) principles of drug therapy. Subsequently, the focus changes to drug therapy in disease states which alter the PK and PD parameters. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is discussed as a means to adjust for these changes and to individualize drug regimens as required to provide optimal therapy in the intensive care unit (ICU).
