What is an adverse drug event?
(Standard 60 of the Standards for Operating Licensed Pharmacies, Section 6.4 of the Orientation to Your New Practice Framework) A drug incident is described as any event that may cause or lead to inappropriate drug use or patient harm. An adverse drug event is the occurrence of an unexpected and undesired incident that does result in patient harm such as injury, adverse outcome or death.
Although definitions vary, an adverse drug event can be described as an injury resulting from a medical intervention related to a drug. The most frequent types of drug-related hospital injuries include heart-rhythm disturbances, diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting, kidney failure, mental confusion, rashes and itching, low blood pressure, and bleeding. It is important to note that not all ADEs result from errors. Patients react to a drug that they have never taken before. These kinds of ADEs are considered nonpreventable and are often called adverse drug reactions (ADR). Preventable ADEs are considered medical errors. ADEs (preventable and nonpreventable) complicate 2.4% of admissions and accounted for an extra length of stay of 1.91 days. They also increased the cost per case by $2,262 and led to an almost two-fold increased risk of death (Bates et al., 1997). Depending on the definitions applied, more than half of ADEs are preventable (Bates et al., 1993). The Brigham and Women’s Hos
An adverse drug event (ADE) is the harmful or unintended effect of or reaction to a medication given in the accepted doses. These may include difficulty breathing, skin rash, itching, swelling, racing heartbeat, nausea and/or vomiting, diarrhea, feeling faint, or severe depression. ADEs of this type are usually referred to as side effects. While many ADEs are mild, some ADEs can be life threatening, requiring hospitalization, or they may even be fatal. Communicating with your doctor is essential if you experience any unwanted side effects from medication. Be sure to ask your pharmacist any questions you may have about side effects of the medication you are taking. Find more information about drug interactions. View the Walgreens.com Ask a Pharmacist Archives for a list of all commonly asked questions. DISCLAIMER: The information provided is not a substitute for medical advice. Consult your physician for diagnosis and treatment of your medical condition. Advances in medicine may cause t
An adverse drug event, also known as adverse drug reaction, is the undesired, negative consequences that come with the use of medications. This should be differentiated from side-effects, which could be associated with positive consequences in some cases. Medical errors can lead to adverse drug events. This can occur during ordering of medication, transcription, distributing and administration. For instance, doctor’s handwritings are notoriously difficult to read, which cause pharmacist to misread the prescription. Another scenario is doctors may not know that a patient is allergic to certain drugs even the information maybe already stored somewhere. It is estimated that adverse drug event occurs in about 7% of hospital admissions. 1% of adverse drug events are fatal and 42% are either life-threatening or serious. Deaths due to adverse drug events are more than deaths due to suicide, homicide, AIDS, or car accidents. Adverse drug events also increase health care cost. On average, patie
