Prescribing will increase importance of ADR reporting
Yellow card reports from pharmacists make up almost a fifth of those
returned |
Pharmacists' role in reporting adverse drug reactions will become increasingly important as the part they play in prescribing grows, according to Vivienne Nathanson, head of ethics and science at the British Medical Association. She was speaking at the launch of a BMA report into adverse
drug reactions (ADRs).
In addition to reporting reactions to prescribed medicines, pharmacists’ reports
are particularly important for over-the-counter medicines, Dr Nathanson
said. GPs may not be aware which over-the-counter medicines patients
are taking, and so may not report adverse reactions to them, putting
pharmacists in a unique position, she explained.
The BMA report warns, however, that the increased availability of general
sale list medicines may be making it harder to identify ADRs. Charles
George, chairman of the BMA’s board of science, says in the foreword: “Increased
private sector availability from sources such as newsagents, supermarkets
and the internet can result in OTC medications, including herbal remedies,
being purchased with little or no support or control from doctors or
pharmacists. This trend towards self-care can make correct identification
of ADRs more difficult if the right questions are not asked of a patient.”
Commenting on the report, Anthony Cox, pharmacovigilance pharmacist at
the West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting, said: “Following
the admission of pharmacists to the yellow card scheme it is gratifying
to see that the profession has performed admirably, now accounting for
about 18 per cent of reports.”
However, he pointed out that most of these reports are submitted by hospital
pharmacists. “It is to be hoped that the extended roles of community
pharmacists will enable them to become more active in yellow card reporting.
“As well as the opportunity of finding ADRs in medicines use reviews,
and in prescribing roles, pharmacists can help by giving patients ‘permission’ to
report an adverse reaction, for example, by saying ‘Get back to
me if you have any problems’ or drawing attention to the patient
reporting scheme at
www.yellowcard.gov.uk.
This includes OTC sales and herbal products,” he
added.
Hemant Patel, President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said that,
as well as increasing the reporting of ADRs, more needs to be done to
prevent them occurring in the first place. “Health care professionals,
particularly in primary care, need to devote more efforts to identifying
adverse drug reactions before they result in a patient being admitted
to hospital,” he said. Medicines use reviews allow pharmacists
to identify ADRs before there is a serious risk to the health of the
patient, he added. “Patient safety could further be improved if
pharmacists were able to access more information about a patients’ condition.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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