Look-alike medicines, unclear communication and distractions during administration – medication errors may occur for many different reasons. They all have in common that they are unintended mistakes in the drug treatment process that may or may not lead to patient harm. In this episode Ghita Benabdallah and Loubna Alj from the national pharmacovigilance centre of Morocco, and Alem Zekarias from Uppsala Monitoring Centre discuss how we can prevent medication errors from occurring – and, when they do occur, make sure that they are reported as such.

Tune in to find out:

• What are the most common causes for medication errors?
• How should strategies for preventing medication errors be devised?
• How does the assessment of suspected medication error reports differ from “regular” ADR signal assessment?
• What can be done to encourage healthcare professionals to report medication errors?

Want to know more?

• In March 2024, WHO published this systematic review of the global burden of preventable medication-related harm in healthcare.
• According to this 2021 article in BMJ, an estimated 237 million medication errors occur in England every year. Avoidable adverse drug events were calculated to cost the National Health Service an annual sum of GBP 98 462 582 per year, consuming 181 626 bed-days, and causing/contributing to 1708 deaths.
• This 2012 meta-analysis confirmed what had been suggested in several observational studies: that preventable adverse drug reactions are a significant healthcare burden.
• The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has a dedicated webpage with recommendations, guidelines, legal requirements and a good practice guide on medication errors.

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About UMC
Read more about Uppsala Monitoring Centre and how we work to advance medicines safety.

Medicines can affect our personality in positive ways, but they may also lead to destructive behaviours that can damage our relationships, finances, and overall quality of life. Michele Fusaroli from the University of Bologna explains how to diagnose and treat drug-induced impulse control disorders.

Tune in to find out:

• Which medicines may cause impulsivity
• What the ‘four knights’ of impulsivity are
• How patient stories can help detect these conditions

Want to know more?

This review by Daniel Weintraub summarises twenty years of research on impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease.

In 2003, Driver-Dunckley and colleagues in the US published the first case series linking pathological gambling to dopamine agonists.

In 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration warned about impulse-control problems associated with the antipsychotic drug aripiprazole.

Michele and colleagues in Italy have investigated the mechanisms and burden of drug-induced impulsivity.

In their 2024 guidelines for managing impulsivity in Parkinson's disease, an expert consensus group highlighted the pivotal role of caregivers and of psychosocial interventions.

Finally, these are the Drug Safety Matters episodes cited in the interview:

• Catching black swans
• When drugs damage the liver
• Empowering patients as partners
• Why we should listen to patients

Join the conversation on social media
Follow us on X, LinkedIn, or Facebook and share your thoughts about the show with the hashtag #DrugSafetyMatters.

Got a story to share?
We’re always looking for new content and interesting people to interview. If you have a great idea for a show, get in touch!

About UMC
Read more about Uppsala Monitoring Centre and how we work to advance medicines safety.

Serious and unexpected adverse drug reactions – the ‘black swans’ of pharmacovigilance – can place enormous strain on safety monitoring systems. Drawing examples from the COVID-19 pandemic, François Montastruc from Toulouse University Hospital explains how we can get better at dealing with the unpredictable.

Tune in to find out:

• What Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s ‘black swan’ theory has to do with pharmacovigilance
• What makes an adverse drug reaction a black, white, or grey swan
• Why flexibility and communication are key to patient safety

Want to know more?

Here are the research articles cited in the episode:

• Quality of reporting of adverse events in clinical trials of COVID-19 drugs: systematic review
• Psychiatric disorders and hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19: a VigiBase study
• Hepatic disorders with the use of remdesivir for COVID-19
• Serious bradycardia and remdesivir for COVID-19: a new safety concern
• Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine-induced cerebral venous thrombosis and thrombocytopaenia: a missed opportunity for a rapid return of experience
• Atypical thrombosis associated with VaxZevria® (AstraZeneca) vaccine: data from the French network of regional pharmacovigilance centres
• Teaching pharmacovigilance to French medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: interest of distance learning clinical reasoning sessions

If you enjoyed this podcast, check out these related episodes from the Drug Safety Matters archive:

• Reforming pharmacovigilance education
• Lessons in pandemic pharmacovigilance
• Intuition in pharmacovigilance

Join the conversation on social media
Follow us on X, LinkedIn, or Facebook and share your thoughts about the show with the hashtag #DrugSafetyMatters.

Got a story to share?
We’re always looking for new content and interesting people to interview. If you have a great idea for a show, get in touch!

About UMC
Read more about Uppsala Monitoring Centre and how we work to advance medicines safety.