Effect of pharmacist involvement on patient reporting of adverse drug reactions: first Italian study.

Background: Adding patients to the range of potential reporters of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) may increase spontaneous reporting and contribute to the detection of signals, one of the primary aims of spontaneous reporting systems. Community pharmacies could have an important role in this context as a service for promoting patient reporting of ADRs.

Objectives: The main objectives of the present study were to assess the potential impact of an intervention to promote patient reporting in community pharmacies in the Veneto region of Italy, and to compare the characteristics of patients' and general practitioners' (GPs) reports of ADRs.

Medication errors: prescribing faults and prescription errors.

1. Medication errors are common in general practice and in hospitals. Both errors in the act of writing (prescription errors) and prescribing faults due to erroneous medical decisions can result in harm to patients.

Medication errors: problems and recommendations from a consensus meeting.

Here we discuss 15 recommendations for reducing the risks of medication errors: 1. Provision of sufficient undergraduate learning opportunities to make medical students safe prescribers. 2.

Influence of regulatory measures on the rate of spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting in Italy.

Background: The reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is the mainstay of post-marketing surveillance systems. Under-reporting and selective reporting are considered the main limitations of a spontaneous reporting-based pharmacovigilance system. However, excessive reporting induced by external events may also impair signal detection by increasing the noise level.

Cosmetovigilance: the 'beautiful' risk.

A cosmetic is classically defined as any preparation that is applied to the skin, eyes, mouth, hair or nails for the purpose of cleansing, enhancing appearance, giving a pleasant smell or giving protection. Unlike drugs, which are used to treat or prevent a disease in the body, cosmetics are not thought to change or affect the body's structure or functions. However, the distinction between drugs and cosmetics is sometimes not clear.

Phytotherapic compounds: the consumer-pharmacist relationship.

Pharmacists play an important role in providing information about natural products and in preventing risks related to these substances, particularly with respect to interactions with conventional drugs. For these reasons, a survey was specifically designed to investigate the quality of self-care counselling by pharmacists on phytotherapy. Twenty-three pharmacy stores took part in the project.

Drug-induced anaphylaxis : case/non-case study based on an italian pharmacovigilance database.

Objective: To identify the number of cases of anaphylaxis reported in association with different classes of drugs and compare it with other reports contained in the same database.

Methods: The data were obtained from a database containing all of the spontaneous reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) coming from the Italian regions of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and the Veneto, which are the main contributors to the Italian spontaneous surveillance system. The ADRs reported between January 1990 and December 2003 with a causality assessment of certainly, probably or possibly drug related (according to the WHO criteria) were analysed using a case/non-case design.

Adverse drug reactions related to the use of fluoroquinolone antimicrobials: an analysis of spontaneous reports and fluoroquinolone consumption data from three italian regions.

Objective: To analyse and compare with one another and with other antibacterial drugs the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of the different fluoroquinolones currently used in Italy, spontaneously reported from doctors in three northern Italian regions.

Methods: The data on fluoroquinolones and other antibacterials were obtained from the spontaneous reporting system database of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and the Veneto, which are the principal contributors to the Italian spontaneous surveillance system. The fluoroquinolone ADRs with a causality assessment of certain, probable or possible (according to WHO criteria), reported between January 1999 and December 2001, were selected and toxicity profiles of individual drugs were described and compared with one another.