Effective today, Tuesday, December 5, 2017, there will be two changes affecting antibiotic drug levels:

(1) The reference range for GENTAMICIN DRUG LEVEL (Epic # LAB28) in Epic will be changed to <= 1.0 μg/mL. This change reflects that the vast majority of gentamicin drug levels are trough levels, and elevated troughs have higher risk of patient toxicity.

(2) The critical value for VANCOMYCIN DRUG LEVEL (Epic # Lab41) will now be 30 μg/mL. This is a change from 50 μg/mL.

Further information on the Department of Pathology Critical Laboratory Tests & Values is available in the Laboratory Services Handbook: https://www.healthcare.uiowa.edu/path_handbook/

Questions should be directed to Matthew Krasowski, MD, PhD, medical director of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory (384-9380, matthew-krasowski@uiowa.edu).