The role of hospital and community pharmacists in pharmacovigilance

In this paper, we give an overview of the role pharmacists actually have and could have in collecting reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and more widely in pharmacovigilance. In the literature, several ways are mentioned in which the pharmacist, both the community pharmacist and the hospital pharmacist, can contribute to the safe use of drugs. In addition to their responsibilities regarding drug dispensing and compliance, they can have a substantial role in ADR reporting. Especially, hospital pharmacists can play a significant role in ADR reporting because the most serious adverse drug events occur in hospitals, and ADRs account for a substantial proportion of hospital admissions. Community pharmacists, however, can also play an important role in ADR reporting. This is, for example, the case in the Netherlands where community pharmacists contribute substantially, both in numbers and in quality of ADR reports. The contribution of the pharmacist to pharmacovigilance should, however, not be limited to ADR reporting. The various pharmaceutical disciplines could also greatly enhance our understanding of the nature of ADRs. If those involved in pharmaceutical disciplines can rise to this challenge, they will significantly help deepen our insights into ADRs.