Bayesian method application: Integrating mathematical modeling into clinical pharmacy through vancomycin therapeutic monitoring

The most recent consensus guidelines for dosing and monitoring vancomycin recommended the use of area-under-the-curve with Bayesian estimation for therapeutic monitoring. As this is a modern concept in the practice of clinical pharmacy, the main objective of this review is to introduce the fundamentals of Bayesian estimation and its mathematical application as it relates to vancomycin therapeutic drug monitoring. In addition, we aim to identify pharmacokinetic (PK) software programs that incorporate Bayesian estimation for vancomycin dosing and to describe the PK models utilized in those software programs for the adult population. Twelve software programs that utilize Bayesian estimation were identified, which included: Adult and Pediatric Kinetics, Best Dose, ClinCalc, DoseMeRx, ID-ODS, InsightRx, MwPharm++, NextDose, PrecisePK, TDMx, Tucuxi, and VancoCalc. The software programs varied in the population PK models used as the Bayesian a priori. With the presence of various vancomycin Bayesian software programs, it is important to choose those that utilize PK models reflective of the specific patient population.