Type A adverse drug reaction

A type A adverse drug reaction is a possibility if a patient is given a higher than recommended dose for any particular route of administration due to practitioner error. In order to avoid this it is good clinical practice for drug dosages to be checked by another member of staff prior to administration. Where this is not possible, or impracticable, extreme care must be taken to ensure that a patient receives the right dose of the correct medicine by the route intended. 

Dose-related (type A) adverse drug reactions are predictable and arc caused by an cxce.ss of the drug s wanted pharmacological effect (e.g. hypoglycacmia with insulin, bleeding with heparin) or sometimes... 

Types of adverse drug reaction There are several classifications of adverse reactions, but the most commonly employed define two principal kinds (A and B) and three subordinate classes (C, D and E). 

Type B adverse drug reactions are much rarer than type A, but they are unpredictable and not dose-related and they are potentially more serious. Many are due to dmg allergy, but there are other causes. 

Table 1 Characteristics of type A and type B adverse drug reactions...

None of these factors alone should be considered to indicate a Type B reaction, and any taken singly can be associated with a Type A reaction. This list should be taken as a starting point in determining if an adverse drug reaction is a type of drug allergy. The following are additional considerations. 

The adverse, toxic effects of drugs can be divided into one of two t5rpes, A and B. Type A adverse reactions are due to the pharmacological (therapeutic) effect of the drug and are therefore usually predictable and related to the dose. They are usually exaggerated therapeutic effects. Type B are unexpected, idiosyncratic effects. 

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