A 1‐Year Study of Drug Prescriptions and Adverse Drug Reactions in Psychiatric Hospital Practice

Drug prescribing habits and adverse drug reaction occurrence were investigated in a psychiatric hospital ward for chronic resident patients, and the usefulness of a drug prescription and adverse event (AE) routine monitoring programme in this setting was assessed. A computerized data base was established and updated bimonthly with clinical data concerning each patient. In particular, information about drug prescriptions was routinely obtained from the clinical records, stored in the data base and periodically retrieved and analysed. The ward doctors were required to report on a form the AEs, which were subsequently examined by a panel of clinical pharmacologists and hospital consultants, to assess their relationship with drug treatments. Moreover, the data base was periodically scrutinized, to search for further AEs. Drug prescription monitoring, besides providing valuable information about drug utilization, allowed identification of some questionable issues (e.g. polypharmacy, low frequency of treatment revisions). The AE monitoring system proved to be effective and the participation of the ward doctors was satisfactory. It is concluded that in this psychiatric hospital setting a drug prescription and AE routine monitoring programme can provide useful information and promote improvement of the quality of care.