King M, Khan S. The development and piloting of "ATTEND DR," a clinical teaching tool to identify and prioritize potential causes of adverse drug reactions.
CURRENTS IN PHARMACY TEACHING & LEARNING 2017;
9:66-71. [PMID:
29180157 DOI:
10.1016/j.cptl.2016.08.040]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2015] [Revised: 07/16/2016] [Accepted: 08/26/2016] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The identification, management, and reporting of adverse drug reactions are integral to clinical practice and education; however, undergraduate teaching related to adverse drug reactions may be inadequate for practice. Existing methods of causality assessment have a number of limitations in relation to clinical teaching, for example, they do not deal well with the concurrent use of other medications.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and pilot a teaching tool to guide students through the process of identifying and prioritizing potential causes of an adverse drug reaction.
SETTING
University-based School of Pharmacy, Australia: an undergraduate Quality Use of Medicines course.
METHOD
A contrived acronym (mnemonic) was developed from causality assessments and discussions with practitioners. The acronym ATTEND DR (abnormality, taken, timeline, evidence, nothing else?, dose, dechallenge, and rechallenge) was piloted in workshops that focussed on adverse drug reactions and their management. Students' responses to "What did you find most valuable about today's workshop?" and "How could we improve?" were analyzed.
RESULTS
All attendees responded (65/65). Students indicated that the ATTEND DR acronym was easy to remember, and facilitated causality assessment in a clinical context, due to an easily followed, step-by-step, comprehensive process that was easy to remember. More practice case studies were requested.
CONCLUSION
The ATTEND DR acronym was designed to address limitations of the existing methods of causality assessment in relation to clinical teaching and preparation of students for future clinical roles. Students responded favorably to its introduction, commenting that it was easily remembered and provided a comprehensive, clinically orientated, step-by-step process.
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