Patient reporting improves pharmacovigilance.
(1) Although patients experience the adverse effects of drugs, they are rarely allowed to report adverse effects directly to their national pharmacovigilance system; (2) An analysis of direct patient reporting to pharmacovigilance centres, and surveys of patient reporting, show that patients mention some adverse effects previously overlooked by healthcare professionals; (3) Patients' reports of adverse effects can have strong causal links and contain as much information as healthcare professionals' reports; (4) Patients do not use the same vocabulary as healthcare professionals, making it more time-consuming for pharmacists and physicians to classify their reports using existing analytical tools; (5) In practice, patients will ultimately benefit from the increased knowledge concerning adverse effects if healthcare authorities allow them to participate directly in pharmacovigilance.
D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D001315:Australia; D001530:Belgium; D002170:Canada; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D003718:Denmark; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand; D010358:Patient Participation; D011788:Quality of Life; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States