pharmaco...what?
- lizettemonteith
In our previous newsletter we discussed Health
System Strengthening in the pharmacy sector.
Kheth'Impilo, in Strengthening the Health System
has three main objectives to always keep in
consideration:
Increasing access to care and treatment;
Ÿ Building capacity in the public heath sector;
and
Ÿ Increased quality of care
Ÿ
Pharmacovigilance is one of the aspects of HSS
that greatly affects the quality of care for our
patients.
In order to clarify Pharmacovigilance we have to
answer a few important questions:
1.
What is Pharmacovigilance?
2.
Why is it important?
3.
What should be reported?
4.
Who is responsible
5.
Will improved Pharmacovigilance make a
difference?
Medicine Control Council (MCC) it is generally
accepted that this medicine is considered
provisionally safe at the time of registration. Our
role as health professionals continues wrt to safety
of the medicine by taking note of and reporting
any untoward (adverse) event. This helps us learn
from the shared experiences about the
medicines. Therefore ultimately making the
medicines safer for future use.
Adverse Drug reactions that must be reported
are:
Ÿ All ADR to newly marketed medicines.
Ÿ All serious reactions [i.e. reactions resulting in
death, disability, hospitalisation, or requiring
intervention to prevent permanent
impairment].
Ÿ All serious interactions.
Ÿ ADR that appear to be occurring more
frequently.
Ÿ ADR which are not clearly stated in the
package insert.
Ÿ Unusual or interesting ADR's.
Ÿ Adverse reactions or poisonings to traditional
or herbal remedies.
Ÿ Therapeutic failures.
All healthcare professionals, including doctors,
dentists, pharmacy personnel and nurses are
requested to report. It is preferable that reports
are checked by the prescriber in order to ensure
that all relevant information is provided in order
for the causality of the ADR to be established.
The World Health Organization (WHO) denes
Pharmacovigilance as the science and activities
relating to the detection, assessment,
understanding and prevention of adverse
events/effects or any other drug related
problems. Therefore to keep a watchful eye on
any undesirable effect of a medicine (at the
normal recommended dose) that can
potentially be harmful to the patients. And report
on such an event once it is noticed.
Pharmacovigilance is important as it's main role is
to improve the safe and rational use of medicines
and thereby improving patient care and patient
safety. When a medicine is registered with the
The report does not constitute an admission that
the medical personnel or the product caused or
contributed to the event.
Kheth’Impilo will be assisting the Department of
Health in the future to ensure that this aspect is
adhered to.
Until next time.
ette
Liz
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