Home › Calculators › Vancomycin — loading dose
Calculator · Loading dose, and where the maintenance dose comes from
Vancomycin — loading dose
The loading dose is by actual body weight and does not change with renal function — the first dose fills a volume, it does not depend on clearance. The maintenance dose does, and that is where the trust protocol takes over.
Before you use it
The maintenance interval below is INDICATIVE and is where trusts differ most — confirm it against your own protocol and with pharmacy before prescribing, and never repeat a dose without a level if renal function is moving. Vancomycin is nephrotoxic and the risk rises with concurrent aminoglycosides, piperacillin-tazobactam, contrast and NSAIDs. Infuse no faster than 10 mg/min or over at least 60 minutes, whichever is longer: faster gives you the histamine reaction people still call red man syndrome, which is an infusion-rate problem and not an allergy.
Source: BNF / BSAC glycopeptide guidance; local protocols vary
Checked, and shown
Every threshold on this page was checked against its primary source by a practising doctor. Here is what that involved, and what it found.