Final answer:
Medications with a low therapeutic index (TI) should be administered with careful dosing and close monitoring due to their narrow margin between effective and toxic doses. This often involves frequent blood tests and dose adjustments to maintain safe drug levels.
Step-by-step explanation:
Meds with low therapeutic index (TI) should have careful dosing and monitoring to prevent toxicity. Medications with a low TI have a narrow margin of safety, meaning the effective dose is very close to the toxic dose.
Therapeutic index (TI) is a ratio that compares the blood concentration at which a drug becomes toxic to the concentration at which the drug is effective. Drugs with a high TI have a wide safety margin, while drugs with a low TI can quickly become dangerous. Thus, drugs with a low TI require precise dosing and close monitoring of drug levels in the patient's system. This may include frequent blood tests to measure drug concentrations and adjusting the dose accordingly to maintain a therapeutic level without reaching toxicity.
Patient factors such as age, kidney function, and other medications can influence drug levels, making monitoring even more crucial for drugs with low TI. Healthcare providers need to be particularly vigilant with these medications to ensure patient safety.