Pharmacist Shares About "Vancomycin – The Missing Link"

4 October 2016- A talk entitled “Vancomycin: The Missing Link” was held in Room 4.07 at IMU Bukit Jalil Campus. The talk is a joint collaboration between Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society-Young Pharmacist Chapter (MPS-YPC) and IMU Alumni. Pn Fateha Kamaruddin was the speaker for this talk. She graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy from University of Otago in 2009. Currently, she is working in Hospital Kuala Lumpur as a Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Pharmacist. She started the talk with a brief introduction about pharmacodynamics of antibiotics. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a “superbug” that is commonly acquired in healthcare settings. Catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) is the commonest cause of nosocomial bacteraemia, and vancomycin is the drug of choice for treatment in terms of cost and efficacy. To prepare individualised dosage regimens for patients, the principle of pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) modeling shall be used to maximise pharmacotherapeutic effects and to minimise toxic effects.

In her talk, Puan Fateha also shared her clinical experience while working in the therapeutic drug monitoring unit in Hospital Kuala Lumpur. She presented a case study of a patient with a recurrent MRSA infection and described how her team worked together to come up with a new concept of treatment. It was very enlightening to understand how she applied the concepts of PK-PD to provide individualised treatment in this case.

After an interactive Q & A session, the talk ended with the presentation of a token of appreciation to the speaker by Dr Mai Chun Wai, Deputy Chairperson of MPS-YPC. When a pharmacy student was interviewed for his feedback on the talk, he responded, “In classroom learning, I have always adapted my practice based on the standard dosing range. However, from the case study that Puan Fateha shared, I gained more insights about the role of therapeutic drug monitoring pharmacist from the perspective of pharmacodynamic, especially when patient is in a critical state. From her talk, I am reminded of the need to constantly assess the patient until we get the desired clinical outcome and try different approach if the current pharmaceutical treatment has shown negative clinical outcome.”