Reporting adverse drug reactions on a geriatric ward: a pilot project

OBJECTIVE: To test a method for registration of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) resulting in hospital admission and of ADRs occurring during hospital stay. Spontaneous reporting was compared with data from patient interview. METHODS: Spontaneous reporting of ADRs by nurses and physicians, as well as patient interviews by pharmacists. This pilot project was carried out in the geriatric ward of the Ghent University Hospital over a period of 8 months in order to develop suitable registration forms and to test feasibility. Causality, severity, type and level of intervention of the reported ADRs were analysed. Reports from physicians and nurses were compared with the data obtained by patient interviews. RESULTS: During the 8 months, for 168 patients, 12 spontaneous reports were received from physicians and nurses. Fifty-six of these patients were interviewed and 32 ADRs were reported. Only 2 ADRs detected by patient interview were also reported spontaneously. The interviews of the 56 geriatric patients indicated that 20% of them were admitted to the hospital because of an ADR. ADRs occurred during hospital stay in another 20% of those patients. CONCLUSION: Spontaneous reporting by physicians and nurses revealed considerably fewer ADRs than patient interview by pharmacists. Physicians and nurses reported the more serious ADRs that occurred during hospital stay, whereas the interviews revealed more ADRs that caused hospital admission. Our data confirm that ADRs are an important cause of hospital admission of geriatric patients and occur frequently during their hospital stay.