Medical departments adverse drug reactions

Before moving from discipline-specific standards to a review process that focuses on a multidisciplinary and systems-based approach to care, medication standards were in department-specific chapters, such as pharmacy, nursing, and medical staff, with the latter centered arormd the Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee, the formulary and adverse drug reaction reporting. Over time, the pharmacy standard disappeared and was integrated into the overall patient care chapters. For the 2004 standards, the JCAHO has published a new chapter entitled Medication Management, which reflects increased focus on medication systems and safety. This chapter divides the medication process into six segments ... 

The patient safety program must include the development of a continuous assessment process to prevent error occurrence. Event information from data and incident occurrence reports should be reviewed by the multidisciplinary team to prioritize organizational efforts. Sources of data could include incident reports, medication errors, adverse drug reactions, transfusion reactions, sentinel events, and other adverse events. The patient safety program encompasses the patient population, visitors, volunteers, physicians, and staff and addresses improvement issues in every department. Senior leadership must be responsible for ensuring full implementation of the program, with an emphasis on the following functions ... 

The Medical Officer in Charge Adverse Drug Reaction Section Pharmacotherapeutic Division Department of Drugs National Board of Health and Welfare Box 607... 

Although older Americans (ages 65 and older) account for less than 15% of the population, they consume about 33% of all prescription medications and 40% of nonprescription drugs.Poor adherence in the elderly often leads to additional physician or emergency department visits, hospitalization, and uncontrolled chronic diseases. One study estimated that about 17% of elderly hospitalizations are due to adverse medication reactions—nearly six times the rate in the nonelderly population. 

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