Healthy Skepticism Library item: 12768

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Publication type: Journal Article

Hitchen L.
Most doctors still don’t report adverse reactions to drugs
BMJ 2008 Feb 9; 336:(7639):299
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/336/7639/299-a?etoc

Abstract:

Almost two thirds of GPs don’t report adverse reactions to drugs under the yellow card scheme, a Welsh survey has shown.

Data from 22 local health boards from 2004 to 2007 show that 63% of 1700 GPs did not submit a yellow card, said Robert Bracchi, a GP and honorary medical officer for the Yellow Card Centre in Wales, at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency conference in Birmingham this week.

But compared with other health professionals in Wales, GPs were still the scheme’s top users with just over a third of reports (34%) in 2005 (British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2005;60:221-3). The next highest reporters were hospital doctors, who were responsible for 22% of reports, followed by hospital pharmacists (21%) and nurses (17%).

From a sample of 224 GPs, half of whom submitted four or more yellow cards and half of whom made no reports, Dr Bracchi . . .