Summary of: How do UK dentists deal with adverse drug reaction reporting?

Abstract

Objective: Pilot investigation to establish the knowledge, use and education needs of general dental practitioners (GDPs) of the UK yellow card (YC) reporting scheme. Design: Postal survey. Main outcome measures: GDP views and experiences. Results Of 130 respondents, 74.6% were aware of the scheme. There was greater awareness of the scheme among those with more years in practice (p =0.003) and those who had trained in the UK (p =0.002). Six GDPs reported using the YC scheme in the past four years (estimated overall use: 0.01 of a YC per GDP per year); 88.5% had never used the YC scheme. The main reason given was that they never saw ADRs (58.5%). GDPs who had received their undergraduate training in the UK were more likely to be aware of their responsibility to report ADRs as a dentist than those who had trained outside the UK (p =0.009). While GDPs were able to identify a wide range of sources to help them learn about ADRs, over three quarters of respondents (76.9%) expressed a need for additional postgraduate training. Conclusions: Under-reporting of ADRs by healthcare professionals is a recognised phenomenon and GDPs appear to be no exception. The effect of providing additional postgraduate training on ADR reporting should be investigated. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.