Pharmacokinetics in postanesthesia recovery: implications for nurses.

ABSTRACT

As the number of drugs used in the treatment of patients increases, nurses must be more knowledgeable about their activity and actions. This article reviews principles of pharmacokinetics, which is the study of how drugs attain their concentrations in the blood stream. The phases of absorption, distribution, biotransformation, and excretion are presented, and examples of common drugs are related to these phases.