Medications have transformed the lives of Canadians who suffer from painful or debilitating illnesses. However, medications may also cause harm. As medication use rises, so does the incidence of adverse drug events-harmful and unintended events related to medication use. Today, adverse drug events cause 1.7M annual emergency department visits in Canada, and are a leading cause of hospital admissions. Identifying and treating patients with adverse drug events is not easy. Healthcare providers often unknowingly re-expose patients to medications that previously caused harm. This is because we misdiagnose 40% of adverse drug events, and lack effective ways of communicating information about these events between care providers even after the diagnosis is made.
When Treatments Harm: Building Better Systems and Enhancing Research Capacity to Reduce Adverse Drug Events
