A multidisciplinary approach to enhance documentation of antibiotic serum sampling

A procedure to improve interdepartmental communication and documentation of antibiotic serum sampling data for pharmacokinetic evaluation will be presented. A prospective audit by the Pharmacokinetic Service revealed that approximately 40% of all antibiotic serum levels were improperly drawn resulting in unsuitable specimens and erroneous serum concentrations or lacked sufficient data for pharmacokinetic analysis. A lack of communication and documentation between phlebotomy and nursing personnel was found to be the most significant source of potential error in serum sampling. Once the protocol for serum sampling was revised, less than 5% of antibiotic serum levels were found to be unsuitable for evaluation and interpretation. A continuous audit for procedural compliance identifies any source of potential sampling error and provides a means to improve the overall quality of a Pharmacokinetic Service.