Adverse drug reactions: treatment burdens and nurse-led medication monitoring

Aim: This paper focuses on adverse drug reactions and the potential for introduction of nurse-led medication monitoring.

Background: The prevention of patient harm caused by health-care organizations was accorded international priority over a decade ago, yet adverse drug reactions remain a significant treatment burden to patients.

Evaluation: This paper reviews the literature to summarize existing knowledge and understand treatment burdens associated with adverse drug reactions.

Key issues: While epidemiological studies explore the magnitude and complex nature of adverse incidents in health-care organizations, the monitoring of prescribed medications and their adverse effects remains an area of concern. Nurse-led medication monitoring has been highlighted as an initiative to minimize unnecessary drug-related patient harm.

Conclusion: This paper indicates that nurses are well-placed to monitor and reduce drug-related morbidity, and builds upon previous work which prioritizes the monitoring of prescribed medicine in a nurse-led adverse drug reaction profile.

Implications for nursing management: Nurse-led medication monitoring presents a unique opportunity to curtail unnecessary treatment burdens. However, important considerations including, patients' and professionals' time, added paperwork, nurse education and training and inter-professional communication need to be explored. Further work is now needed to establish the clinical gains and patient outcomes of nurse-led medication monitoring.