医薬品等の回収情報に関する調査・研究 (第3報)

市立宇和島病院における医薬品等の回収情報の有用性

抄録

Drug recalls require urgent action to ensure proper safety management in medical practice. Medical institutions in remote areas, however, have been hampered in making a timely response to drug recalls because information has only been available from the manufacturer or supplier who initiated the recall. It is thus important to shorten the time needed to access such information.
In April 2000, a section containing information on voluntary drug recalls was set up in the Medical Products Information Service System. It provided medical institutions with a new channel for readily accessing recall information through the Internet so that medical institutions do not have to depend solely on pharmaceutical companies any more for such information.
Since April 2000, The City Hospital of Uwajima has utilized the system to obtain recall information rapidly. While information on medical devices provided by manufacturers is not as satisfactorily systematized as that on medicines, our hospital has been able to obtain initial recall information on 32 of 34 devices thanks to the system. This clearly demonstrates the usefulness of the System in avoiding risks in medical practice by enabling safety measures to be taken immediately.
Knowing no geographical boundaries, the system can efficiently provide comprehensive recall information to institutions in any part of Japan and should therefore be expanded.