The laboratory plays a vital role in monitoring the level of therapeutic drugs. Communication with clinical personnel is critical. Blood specimens are collected at specific intervals to determine the drug's trough and peak levels. The pharmacist uses these trough and peak values to appropriately adjust the drug's dose.
The phlebotomist obtains the specimen at the precise time ordered for the specific peak or trough drug level. With some drugs, altering the draw time by even 15 minutes can hurt adjusting and administering the next drug dose.
- Obtain the specimen at the requested time.
- If the time is missed, ask the clinical staff if the test should still be obtained or if another draw time is desired.
- If the clinical staff still wants a specimen collected, note when the drug was administered and when the specimen was collected.
Failure to communicate could hurt the patient, who may be given too little or too much medication based on an erroneous test result.
