The importance of pharmacovigilance notifications in a teaching hospital: Experience report

Pharmacovigilance is an important activity for society. It contains a complex regiment in the hospital environment that aims at total patient safety as well as the analysis of problems related to the use of medications, risks that can be harmful to health during the hospitalization process. There are numerous errors in the use of medications, so applying the risk management tool in the establishment can be an alternative to ensure a safe process. In order to create risk prevention strategies, it is important to identify and analyze the causes of events and implement preventive actions before and after the occurrence. The objective of this work is to describe the importance of pharmacovigilance notifications for patient safety during the period of hospitalization in a teaching hospital. This is a qualitative, descriptive research of the actions developed by the hospital clinical pharmacist together with the multidisciplinary team to promote safe practices for the prevention of medication errors and reduction of harm. A well-developed and implemented management system in the service ended up generating the actions developed such as: review and training of the prescription, dispensing and administration protocol of medication; technical notes; implementation of the protocol based on the visual identification of medications; standardization of drug identification labels; change in electronic medical prescription of drugs, visual identification on packaging, training on pharmacovigilance; annual training with new residents and prescribing physicians. The strategic actions developed and implemented by the team served to create a safer environment, thus promoting safe processes and safe practices during the hospitalization period. The team's performance in creating strategies was important and enriching, pharmacovigilance is an important instrument in preventing any adverse events, encouraging reporting is extremely relevant and a key element in patient safety.