Bedside determination of aminoglycoside therapy in the patient with renal insufficiency

A computer program has been written to assist the clinician in making dosage adjustments for the patient with renal insufficiency. The entire program can be run in less than one minute and requires no previous computer experience. Large memory storage requirements are averted by the introduction of analytic equations to model tabular data. The easy access and friendly alphanumeric capability should make the calculator sufficiently convenient to overcome the physician reluctance noted with earlier programs. Even though the accuracy of these techniques is well established, it should be emphasized that aminoglycoside concentrations can, occasionally, be unpredictable, and therefore, peak and trough levels should be drawn for all patients in this setting. Used in this context, the program described herein should prove to be a useful addition to the physician's armamentarium of clinical software.