The cost of pharmacovigilance: a time and motion study of an adverse drug reaction program.

Abstract

Adverse medication events are associated with a significant number of hospital admissions, and the appropriate recording of these events plays a vital role in medication safety. We set out to analyse the time and extrapolated cost in reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs). A time and motion study of the tasks involved in reviewing, assessing, reporting and communicating ADRs was done over a period of 2 months. We found a median of 69 min was needed in background work per ADR report. The commitment involved in the support of this program is considerable and will encourage further refinement to streamline the process.