AN OVERVIEW OF VARIOUS SCALES USED IN CAUSALITY ASSESSMENT OF ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS

Establishing a relationship of causality between the medications received and the events occurred utilizing causality assessment scale is much needed to reduce the occurrence of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) and to prevent exposure of patients towards additional drug hazards. Causality assessment can be defined as the determination of chance, whether a selected intervention is the root cause of the adverse event observed. The causality assessment is the responsibility of either a single expert or an established committee. As it is a common phenomenon of variable perception of knowledge and experience by each expert, there is a high possibility of disagreement and inter-individual variability on assessment. Many of the causality assessment methods have their advantages and disadvantages. However, no single scale has been adopted as standardized and considered for uniform acceptance

AN OVERVIEW OF DRUG INFORMATION CENTER – FUNCTIONS AND CHALLENGES IN INDIA

Drug information has been providing data on drugs that are being used in the health-care system. It also bears dosing, adverse drug reactions (ADRs), side effects, pharmacokinetic parameters and educating the health-care professionals and managing drug shortage, identifying alternative treatments, and developing alternative protocols for restrictive use. The Moto of drug information is to contribute genuine, precise, appropriate, impartial drug information to the patients, nursing staff, practicing physician, pharmacist, and other health-care professional. Drug information regularly responds to inquiries from patients, health-care professionals. The drug information center routinely receives queries from hospital staff, patients, and responds to queries regarding ADRs, drug interactions, pharmacokinetic parameters of drugs, and information on new drugs available in the market. Drug information services help in improving patient safety, minimizing drug-related issues to the patient, and rational use of drugs by both physician and patient. Drug information services are providing unambiguous data with a well-trained and registered clinical pharmacist. Most of the developed countries are using this service successfully. In well-developed countries, these centers provide accurate and up to date drug information to health-care professionals within minutes. However, developing countries like India need to pay more attention to the services. Information present in this paper not only enlightens the drug information services but also on the future aspects that need to be taken