Yellow Card? Not for me thank you
Authors: Lydia Harper, Cardiff Medical School, Alana Adams, Welsh Medicines Information Centre, Dr Alison Thomas, Yellow Card Centre Wales, Dr David Tuthill,
University Hospital of Wales, John Thompson, National Poisons Information Service
Focal Points
• The objective was to evaluate paediatric
doctors, nurses and pharmacists knowledge
and participation in the Yellow Card Scheme.
• 20% of respondents had seen an adverse drug
reaction but general chosen not to report it, in
addition knowledge about adverse drug
reaction monitoring and reporting was poor.
• An urgent educational intervention is
required to improve awareness.
Introduction
Up to 10% of paediatric inpatients experience an adverse
drug reaction (ADR)1.
The Yellow Card Scheme
for spontaneous reporting of ADRs should play a vital role in
successful pharmacovigilance. However, despite its obvious
benefits, gross under-reporting is still a major problem; less
2
than 10% of all ADRs are reported .
Method
Paediatric doctors, nurses and pharmacists were asked face-to-face to
complete a questionnaire to assess their
knowledge of the Yellow Card Scheme for reporting ADRs. The questionnaire consisted of 12 questions in
total, 11 were multiple-choice answers and one required free text. The questionnaire aimed to obtain information about staff
demographics, their attitudes and knowledge towards ADR reporting and their experience, if any, of
reporting using the Yellow Card Scheme. Data was collected from The Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales and The Royal
Gwent Hospital over a 4 week period in June 2015.
Results
111 staff members were approached and 100
participated; 57 staff nurses, 2 nurse practitioners, 2
pharmacists, 10 junior doctors, 18 paediatric trainees, 2 GP
trainees and 9 paediatric consultants.
Discussion
Participation in the Yellow Card Scheme amongst
paediatric healthcare professionals was suboptimal. An
Question:
Yes (%) No (%)
Reported an ADR via the Yellow Card
Scheme
40
60
Seen an ADR but chose not to report
20
80
Identified the correct guidelines for
reporting ADRs in children
19
81
Knew the significance of the black
triangle in the BNFc
56
44
urgent educational intervention is
required to improve awareness of the
Yellow Card Scheme and thus the rate of spontaneous
reporting among healthcare professionals working in
Paediatrics.
References
1. Impicciatore, P et al. (2001). Br J of Clin Pharmacol, 52: 77–83
2. Green, C et al. (2001). Br J of Clin Pharmacol, 51: 81–86
UKMI Practice Development Seminar 2016