Improving Pediatric Adverse Drug Event Reporting through Clinical Pharmacy Services

The purpose of this study was to summarize adverse drug event (ADE) reporting and to characterize the type of healthcare practitioners involved in reporting over a 10-year period at a 120-bed university-affiliated children's hospital.

The University of Virginia Children's Hospital ADE database was analyzed for records involving pediatric patients. Data from patients <18 years of age who were admitted to the University of Virginia Children's Hospital between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2009, were analyzed. Data collected included drug name and therapeutic class of the suspected causative agent, description of the event, severity, causality, outcome, and the type of healthcare practitioner reporting the event.

A total of 863 ADEs were reported over the 10-year period. The 5 most common types reported were extravasation injury (10%), rash (8%), hypotension (5%), pruritus (5%), and renal failure (3%). A total of 196 (21%) cases were categorized as mild, 436 (47%) cases as moderate, and 296 (32%) cases as severe. Further characterization of extravasations was performed to identify trends relating to potential causes. In 45 (57%) reports, parenteral nutrition was identified as the causative agent. Full recovery was documented in 21 (47%) extravasations. Of the total events reported, 83% were reported by pharmacists, 16% by nurses, and <1% by other healthcare practitioners.

Results of this study are consistent with those of previous studies involving ADE reporting in children's hospitals. This consistency is due in part to system design and use of unit-based pharmacists as the primary reporters.