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Comparative Study
. 2014 Jun 16;9(6):e99044.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099044. eCollection 2014.

Guidelines for therapeutic drug monitoring of vancomycin: a systematic review

Zhi-Kang Ye  1 , Can Li  1 , Suo-Di Zhai  2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Guidelines for therapeutic drug monitoring of vancomycin: a systematic review

Zhi-Kang Ye et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background and objective: Despite the availability of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of vancomycin, vancomycin serum concentrations still do not reach therapeutic concentrations in many patients. Thus, we sought to systematically review the quality and consistency of recommendations for an international cohort of CPGs regarding vancomycin TDM.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, guidelines' websites and Google were searched for CPGs for vancomycin TDM. Two independent assessors rated the quality of each CPG using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation II (AGREEII) instrument and data were independently extracted.

Results: Twelve guidelines were evaluated and the overall quality of guidelines for vancomycin TDM was moderate. The highest score was recorded in the domain of clarity of presentation, and the lowest score was recorded in the domain of rigor of development and stakeholder involvement. The specific recommendations for vancomycin TDM were moderately consistent and guidelines varied in trough concentration monitoring, frequency of TDM, and serum concentration targets.

Conclusion: The overall guideline quality for vancomycin TDM was not optimal and effort is needed to improve guideline quality, especially in the domain of rigor of development and stakeholder involvement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow chart for the systematic review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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