JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Medications aim to relieve suffering & ailment, but they can be associated with adverse side effects or adverse drug reactions (ADRs). ADRs are a major cause of hospital admissions and cause a significant strain on healthcare funding in Australia and Globally. There is little integrative and collective knowledge on ADR reporting and monitoring in the Australian healthcare system.

Objective:

This review aims to investigate the current trends in ADR reporting, monitoring, and handling in the Australian healthcare system and describe related interventions.

Methods:

A comprehensive search of appropriate keywords, regarding ADRs was used to search 6 electronic databases to retrieve peer-reviewed scientific articles published from 2010 to 2021. Only articles with a precise focus on ADRs in the Australian medicine’s management context were included.

Results:

Seven articles met the inclusion criteria. The findings offer a comprehensive picture of ADR reporting and monitoring in the Australian healthcare system. The current ADR systems were compiled with the involvement of both consumer/ patients and healthcare providers to record or report all types of ADRs of various severities and aimed at improving ADR monitoring and reporting. The major barrier to consumer/patients’ participation is awareness to reporting mechanisms. Consumers are also more likely to report ADRs to their doctor or pharmacists. Documentation of opioid and penicillin ADR reports in hospital electronic health records shows nurses and pharmacists to be significantly less likely than doctors to omit the reaction description and pharmacists significantly more likely to enter the correct classification than doctors.

Conclusions:

There is a need to (1) improve the current initiatives on public awareness to ADR reporting and the provision of report feedback to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration; (2) implement digital solutions to support consumer/patients reporting and empower healthcare providers to electronically capture and report ADRs within their clinical workflow; (3) undertake studies to understand ADR management at the primary healthcare institutional level; (4) develop and validate frameworks to evaluate novel technological solutions designed to facilitate pharmacovigilance and improve the safety of medicines management in Australia.