One of the toughest situations
a physician can face is when the tools they're given
to heal end up harming their patients. In this issue,
we look at the case of a medication that did just that
and ask the question: Is adverse event (AE) reporting
in Canada good enough?
"Antibiotic
causes liver toxicity, indication curbed" examines
how despite warnings about telithromycin, a newish antibiotic
indicated for respiratory infections, over 28 million
prescriptions have been written internationally.
New health products are always
risky, and physicians accept this. What they can't accept
is unreasonable risk due to communication failure. The
physicians our reporter spoke to say Health Canada isn't
doing enough to warn them about AEs, and that they often
hear about them from the FDA or their pharma rep first.
The 2005 launch of MedEffect (www.healthcanada.gc.ca/medeffect),
an online AE reporting website, was a step in the right
direction. But other countries have gone farther. The
US recently introduced blameless reporting and French
hospitals now have roving teams of dedicated pharmacists
and physicians who prowl the halls on the lookout for
AEs. It's time for Canada to get on board and fast-track
patient safety measures so physicians can spend more
time doing what they do best: healing.
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