Aminoglycosides Podcast – Pharmacology, Kinetics, Monitoring, and Adverse Effect
Real Life Pharmacology - Pharmacology Education for Health Care Professionals
Eric Christianson, PharmD; Pharmacology Expert and Clinical Pharmacist
4.9 • 773 Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Aminoglycosides are antibiotics used to treat serious Gram-negative infections, but they also come with important safety concerns and unique pharmacokinetic properties that healthcare professionals must understand. In this episode, we’re going to break down the essential clinical pearls surrounding aminoglycosides and how pharmacists and clinicians can use them effectively while minimizing toxicity.
We’ll review the most common agents in this class, including Gentamicin, Tobramycin, and Amikacin, and discuss when these medications are typically used in clinical practice. From severe Gram-negative infections to synergy dosing in conditions like infective endocarditis, aminoglycosides still play a role in antimicrobial therapy.
Another key focus of this episode will be the pharmacology that makes these drugs unique. Aminoglycosides demonstrate concentration-dependent killing and a post-antibiotic effect, which is why strategies like extended-interval dosing and tools such as the Hartford Nomogram are commonly used to guide therapy.
We’ll also cover the major adverse effects, including nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity, and highlight practical monitoring strategies to help reduce these risks. By the end of this episode, you’ll have a clearer understanding of how aminoglycosides work, when they should be used, and the key dosing and monitoring principles that every clinician should know.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey all, welcome back to the real-life pharmacology podcast. I'm your host pharmacist Eric Christensen, |
| 0:05.1 | and thank you so much for listening today. On this episode of the real-life pharmacology podcast, |
| 0:10.5 | I'm going to cover amino glycosides. This is an important lecture within the BCPS and NAPlex study materials. |
| 0:28.2 | Go check out MedEd 101.com slash store if you're interested in checking out the study materials for those exams. |
| 0:30.5 | We've also got ambulatory care content. |
| 0:33.1 | We've got BCMTMS. |
| 0:34.5 | We've got geriatric content as well, as well as books, study resources, and materials |
| 0:39.6 | for all sorts of different healthcare professionals. So again, the review course for BCPS and |
| 0:47.1 | NAPLEX, this will be included with slides, of course, as well. These courses are over 30 hours of review content, |
| 0:57.6 | in addition to practice questions, supplemental resources as well, |
| 1:02.0 | everything you need to pass your exam. |
| 1:04.4 | Thousands of pharmacists, pharmacy students have been helped by our study materials. |
| 1:08.8 | We absolutely think you can benefit too. |
| 1:10.9 | So go check out all those links, medit 101.com slash store, support the sponsor and, of course, |
| 1:17.8 | help support this podcast. In this section, I'm going to cover amino glycosides. |
| 1:23.6 | These are an antibiotic for infection. I'm going to cover therapeutic drug monitoring, adverse effects, |
| 1:30.3 | as well as indications with this class of drugs. |
| 1:35.3 | All right, so the common agents that we hear of when we talk amino glycosides |
| 1:41.3 | are gentimicin and tobermicin. |
| 1:45.9 | Amacason is also a potential alternative here as well, but I would say gentimicin is probably the most |
| 1:53.6 | common one you hear of, but tobermison can be utilized as well. |
| 1:58.3 | Mechanistically, aminoglycosides bind to the 30s ribosomal subunit, and this can essentially cause some misreading of MRNA, and ultimately that can lead to erroneous, if you will, protein synthesis. |
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