Pharmacovigilance is a necessary procedure for monitoring drug safety, regulated in the UK through the Yellow Card Scheme (YCS). All medications whether new or old, convey a risk of impacting patients negatively, manifesting in adverse drug reactions (ADRs). This is integral in antidepressants, whereby consumption and development has staggeringly escalated over the years, resulting in the production of new antidepressants, such as brexanolone, agomelatine and esketamine. Evidently, research detected that whilst pharmacovigilance has advanced overtime, there remains imperative gaps as depicted by the concern of underreporting. Thereby, the aim of this research study was to explore attitudes towards the pharmacovigilance system, with the intent of uncovering prospective amendments which could be introduced to improve current practices. To achieve this understanding, interviews were performed with community pharmacists working within the UK, which were evaluated through thematic analysis to extract common themes.
The research results demonstrated an absence of a regulated pharmacovigilance model. Due to the disparities in the YCS, regarding ADR guidelines which ultimately limited pharmacist utilisation. Consequently, broadening ADR guidelines within the YCS may serve to refine pharmacovigilance. Conjointly, results discovered a deficiency in pharmacist pharmacovigilance training, further confirmed by the minimal knowledge participants obtained concerning the use of agomelatine, esketamine and brexanolone.
Hence, it may be appropriate to invoke pharmacovigilance training schemes for pharmacists post-qualifying. Even though the results delivered a beneficial awareness into current pharmacovigilance practices, the results fell short in establishing the effectiveness of ADR monitoring in the above antidepressants. Further research could be conducted to investigate pharmacovigilance across all sectors in healthcare, gauging the experiences of other healthcare professionals, as pharmacovigilance has spread beyond just the scope of pharmacists.
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