- Title
- Defining and classifying terminology for medication harm: a call for consensus
- Creator
- Falconer, Nazanin; Barras, Michael; Martin, Jennifer; Cottrell, Neil
- Relation
- European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Vol. 75, Issue 2, p. 137-145
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00228-018-2567-5
- Publisher
- Springer
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- Purpose: The multiplicity in terms and definitions of medication-related harm has been a long-standing challenge for health researchers, clinicians, and regulatory bodies. The purpose of this narrative review was to report the diversity of terms; compare definitions, classifications, and models describing medication harm; and suggest which may be useful in both clinical practice and the research setting. Methods: A narrative review of key studies defining and/or classifying medication harm terminology was undertaken. Results: This review found that numerous terms are used to describe medication harm, and that there is a lack of consistency in current definitions, classifications, and applications. This lack of consistency applied across clinical jurisdictions and regulatory terminologies. A number of limitations in current definitions and classifications were identified. These included the exclusion of key types of medication harm events, ambiguous wording, and a lack of clarity and consensus on subclassifications. In general, there was some overlap in key models from the literature and these were presented to describe similarities and differences. Conclusion: Without uniformity quantifying, comparing, combining, or extrapolating medication harm data, such as a rate of harm in a specific population, is a challenge for those involved in medication safety and pharmacovigilance. There is a pressing need for further discussion and international consensus on this topic. Adoption of standard descriptors by practitioner groups, regulatory and policy organisations would foster quality improvement and patient safety.
- Subject
- adverse drug events; adverse drug reactions; medication errors; medication harm; drug-related problems
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1467966
- Identifier
- uon:47953
- Identifier
- ISSN:0031-6970
- Language
- eng
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