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Overview of pharmacovigilance practices at the largest academic healthcare system in the State of Qatar

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Abstract

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are major global concern, adversely impacting patient safety and health outcomes. ADRs cause significant morbidity and mortality among hospitalised patients, causing greater length of hospital stay, increased healthcare costs and patient dissatisfaction to the treatments. Pharmacovigilance (PV), a process of detecting, monitoring and preventing drug-related harm, plays a vital role to ensure patient safety. ADR reporting is the cornerstone of PV. PV practices in Qatar are relatively new and are evolving rapidly. The purpose of this article is to explore the medication safety practices (notably ADR reporting) at the largest academic healthcare center in Qatar. The article further provides evidence on how information related to ADRs are generated and interpreted. Furthermore, it describes how a designated center for monitoring medication safety activities was established at the largest healthcare provider in Qatar.

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No funding was received for this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hamad Medical Corporation, 3050, Doha, Qatar

    Moza Al Hail, Wessam Elkassem, Anas Hamad, Pallivalappila Abdulrouf & Binny Thomas

  2. Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK

    Moza Al Hail, Binny Thomas & Derek Stewart

Authors
  1. Moza Al Hail
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  2. Wessam Elkassem
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  3. Anas Hamad
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  4. Pallivalappila Abdulrouf
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  5. Binny Thomas
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  6. Derek Stewart
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Binny Thomas.

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Al Hail, M., Elkassem, W., Hamad, A. et al. Overview of pharmacovigilance practices at the largest academic healthcare system in the State of Qatar. Int J Clin Pharm 40, 769–774 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-018-0629-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-018-0629-5

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