Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a common problem in daily clinical practice and they may in part result from medication errors. According to the extended interpretation in the new European pharmacovigilance guideline, medication error-related reactions are classified as ADRs. Therefore, the pharmacovigilance system needs to be adjusted to record medication errors. As a partner in the German pharmacovigilance system, the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association (DCGMA) has set up a project for developing a subsystem for the recording and assessment of medication errors within the existing spontaneous reporting system for ADRs. The aim of the project was to evaluate the feasibility of recording and assessing medication errors within the existing structures and to investigate whether it is possible to deduce risk-reducing strategies from the information obtained by the case reports. In the present narrative review, the experience of the DCGMA with the recording and assessment of medication errors is described. The conclusions and recommendations from the analysis of the reports of medication errors show how they can be used to improve medication safety. The project has closed a gap in pharmacovigilance.
Keywords: Adverse drug reaction reporting system; Drug related side effects and adverse events; Medication errors; Patient safety; Pharmacovigilance.