Introduction to monitoring. What is what you prescribed actually doing?

BACKGROUND

Having written a prescription for the patient, it is important to monitor for the effects of the drug.

OBJECTIVE

This article discusses the importance of patient monitoring as part of the prescribing process, and in particular, what factors to monitor.

DISCUSSION: Monitoring of drug therapy is an important part of the prescribing process in enhancing the drug's effectiveness. This is partly due to the large variability in patient response to any given dose of a drug. The drug's effect as well as adverse effects should be actively sought, and dosage alterations made in order to enhance the drug's effect. In some cases, this involves directly monitoring for the drug's effects, and in other cases using surrogate markers.