Pharmacology in the Clinical Lab: Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Pharmacogenomics

Number of Credits

1.5 P.A.C.E.®

Price

$29

Author

MediaLab
Course Keywords: ,

This course provides P.A.C.E.® credit only and is not for individuals that are eligible for CME credit (physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses). For CME credit, register for the course under the Laboratory Director CME Program category where the course is offered for CME credit.

Course Details:

Therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacogenomics are both pharmacy-related areas within the clinical laboratory. Although each is considered a sub-discipline within laboratory medicine, the two fields overlap significantly. In this course, we will provide an overview of each of these laboratory sub-disciplines and discuss the utility, rationale, and practice of each one.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is a branch of clinical chemistry that specializes in the measurement of medication levels in serum. TDM requires that the laboratory make quantitative measurements of drugs and/or their metabolites.

Pharmacogenomics (usually abbreviated PGx) is the study of how variations in the human genome affect a given individual’s response to medications. It refers to how administered drugs will be handled by a specific person given specific genetic mutations and polymorphisms they may have.

Intended Audience: The target audience for this course is laboratory professionals (Medical Laboratory Scientists, Medical Technologists and Technicians, et.al.) who are responsible for prescribing and administering therapeutic medications.

Learning Objectives

  • Define therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and explain the rationale for this testing.
  • Explain the concept of elimination half-life.
  • List the criteria and attributes of commonly monitored drugs.
  • Discuss three methods that are used for the measurement of therapeutic drugs in serum.
  • Define pharmacogenomics, polymorphism and CYP450; explain what is meant by ‘individualized medicine’ or ‘personalized medicine’.
  • Explain the usefulness of CYP450 testing as well as its shortcomings.
  • List the four classifications of metabolizers and explain the clinical relevance of each.

This course has been approved for P.A.C.E.® credit. There are no prerequisites for this course.

  • TDM
  • Pharmacogenomics
  • References
  • Graded Exam

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