A South Indian Journey on the Trivialized Healthcare Menace of Adverse Drug Reactions

Introduction: The primary objective is to encourage HCPs to report more ADRs by bringing out data on the incidence, rate and characteristics of ADRs, ADR-related hospital admissions and by exposing their impact on patient outcomes. Materials and Methods: This was a record-based retrospective cross-sectional analysis undertaken to investigate ADR monitoring and reporting in a tertiary care hospital. The databases from June 2016 to May 2020 were studied to assess the characteristics, causality, severity, and incidence rate of ADRs reported by the HCPs in accordance with the accepted criteria. The data was later analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 775 ADRs were identified and reported, extending over 4 years. 72.9% of the hospitalized patients experienced an ADR, 27.09% visited due to ADRs and 0.12% had a fatal ADR. The incidence of ADRs was estimated to be 1.8 per 1000 patient days, with preventable ADR constituting 0.4 per 1000 patient days. Skin (60.38%) was the most common organ system affected typically with Anti-infectives (48.38%). After causality assessment 624 (80.51%) of the cases were classified as probable while 141 (18.19%) were possible. The majority (52.7%) of the reactions were moderate in severity. Conclusion: It is crucial to encourage all concerned HCPs to apprehend their role and responsibility in the identification, monitoring and reporting of suspected ADRs. Educational programs, periodic dissemination of data on the reported ADRs to the healthcare practitioners, and improvement of interactions between the physicians, nurses and pharmacists may be programs to implement.