RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Assessment of adverse drug event recognition by emergency physicians in a French teaching hospital
JF Emergency Medicine Journal
JO Emerg Med J
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the British Association for Accident & Emergency Medicine
SP 63
OP 67
DO 10.1136/emermed-2011-200482
VO 30
IS 1
A1 Lucien Roulet
A1 Françoise Ballereau
A1 Jean-Benoît Hardouin
A1 Anne Chiffoleau
A1 Leïla Moret
A1 Gilles Potel
A1 Nathalie Asseray
YR 2013
UL http://emj.bmj.com/content/30/1/63.abstract
AB Objectives The frequency and the severity of drug-related visits in emergency department (ED) make the improvement of adverse drug event (ADE) recognition a crucial issue. As part of a research project aiming to improve the diagnosis and the management of ADEs in ED, the authors conducted a pilot study whose primary objective was to assess ADE recognition by emergency physicians. Methods The patients presenting to the ED were included at randomised time periods between 1 October 2007 and 31 March 2008 in this prospective cross-sectional study. The primary outcome was the frequency of ADEs that were attributed to a medication-related problem by the emergency physician. Results A total of 423 patients met the inclusion criteria, of which 95 experienced an ADE (22.5%; 95% CI 18.6% to 26.7%). Emergency physicians correctly attributed 33 of these cases (34.7%; 95% CI 25.3% to 45.2%) to a medication-related problem. Of the 28 cases in which the ADE was considered as a ‘direct drug effect’ (29.5%; 95% CI 20.6% to 39.7%), 16 were correctly identified by emergency physicians (57.1%; 95% CI 37.2% to 75.5%). Of the 67 cases in which the ADE was considered as a ‘drug involvement in a multifactorial pathological condition’ (70.5%; 95% CI 60.3% to 79.4%), 17 were correctly attributed (25.4%; 95% CI 15.5% to 37.5%). Conclusions ADEs are frequent in EDs and are not well recognised by emergency physicians, especially when the drug is involved in a multifactorial pathological condition.