Adverse drug reactions go unnoticed

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are fairly common and need to be recorded so that the same patient is not exposed again to a drug which may have caused a problem earlier. However, very little has been written about the recording of ADRs in psychiatric settings. A survey of 150 patients on acute adult and elderly wards in Oxleas NHS Trust, S.E. London found that almost two-thirds of them had experienced an ADR. For 64 patients documentation of ADRs was either inaccurate or incomplete and allergy documentation was either innacurate or absent for 81 of the patients. The severity of an allergic reaction did not seem to predict whether it would be recorded or not. The researchers concluded that the documentation of ADRs for these patients was 'below acceptable standards.'

Sohel, Jagjit, Clark, Ben S. and Paton, Carol - Allergies and adverse drug reactions: clinical records versus patients' perceptions Journal of Mental Health February 2009, 18(1), 51-56