Application of a pharmacokinetic simulation program in pharmacy courses

A model which illustrates aspects of drug absorption, distribution and elimination in the body has been developed at McMaster University and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College over the past eight years. It is a multi-compartment model in which drug concentrations are determined by the solution of a system of non-linear differential equations with physiological and biochemical data defining the patient and drugs. The model has been used in course work for final year B.Pharm. students for examining plasma levels and distributions of several drugs following simple and multiple doses by various routes. Third year students carried out investigations using their prior knowledge of dosing regimens and pharmaco-kinetics to design suitable dosage schemes to maintain effective levels of nortryptiline, propranolol, high dose aspirin and kanamycin. In pharmacy courses, posology is taught traditionally as a series of doses to be learnt by rote, while pharmacokinetics course work consists of the interpretation of computer generated data. The model has been found to offer a more interesting and dynamic teaching method for both these subjects.