What is the correct time to take medication?
Riksen, N.P.; Burger, D.M.
Nederlands Tijdschrift Voor Geneeskunde 159: A9509
2015
ISSN/ISBN: 1876-8784 PMID: 26675647 Document Number: 680981
In our professional lives as a hospital pharmacist/clinical pharmacologist and an internist/vascular medicine specialist, "time" plays an important role. Dosage recommendations are made based on elimination half-life and determination of drug levels is generally only useful after the patient has achieved the steady-state phase. Time effects also play a pharmacodynamic role. Some drugs work better when taken at bedtime than in the morning, certain cardiovascular drugs for example. We present an anthology of our activities over an average working day at Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands, whereby time plays an essential role.