Multidisciplinary program for detecting and evaluating adverse drug reactions.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacovigilance
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

• Traditional voluntary adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting mechanisms in hospitals are often inefficient, yielding very few reports.
• A 900-bed university hospital complex previously reported less than one ADR per month.
• There is a need for more effective systems to identify and report ADRs to improve patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a newly implemented ADR-reporting program.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a system involving quality assurance nurses and staff pharmacists in detecting and assessing ADRs.
• To increase the rate of ADR reporting within a hospital setting.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a system where quality assurance nurses detect charted ADRs via concurrent chart review.
• Staff pharmacists conduct follow-up chart reviews, collect data, and perform causality assessments using published algorithms.
• In-service education for pharmacy and nursing staff on ADRs, with regular ADR committee meetings for quality assurance and discrepancy evaluation.

Main Results:

• The new ADR-reporting program increased the average number of reported ADRs from 0.4 to 20 per month.
• The system relies on concurrent chart review by nurses and detailed evaluation by pharmacists.
• The program established a quality assurance process involving committee review and discrepancy analysis.

Conclusions:

• A collaborative system involving nurses for detection and pharmacists for evaluation significantly enhances ADR reporting rates.
• This structured approach improves the identification of potential adverse drug events, contributing to better patient safety.
• The program demonstrates a successful model for improving pharmacovigilance in a hospital environment.