Factors Determining Physician Reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions

KNOWLEDGE about adverse reactions to drug therapy has arisen largely from spontaneous reports by physicians who observed these events in their patients. Such communications have been directed to medical journals, drug manufacturers, hospital drug committees, medical associations and governmental supervisory agencies. In the United States both the American Medical Association1 , 2 and the Food and Drug Administration3 , 4 have in recent years requested reports of adverse drug reactions from physicians and hospitals. Reports from practicing physicians have been almost entirely responsible for calling attention to previously unappreciated adverse drug effects. Despite the increasing use of prospective monitored surveillance for adverse drug reactions . . .