Editor—It is right that we consider all the possible harms of treatments.1 A particular hazard has been drawn to the attention of the National Patient Safety Agency.2
General practitioners usually do not enter the names of drugs that are prescribed to their patients elsewhere (hospitals or clinical trial drugs) into their computerised patient prescribing record. Thus their approved systems are unable to flag up potential interactions. This applies to drugs such as isotretinoin.
The longer term clinical trials that continue for many years pose a particular danger. Patients may well develop comorbid conditions that need treatment by their general practitioners, who would then prescribe without appreciating the other drugs being taken. Of course the patient may be in the placebo arm, but it has to be assumed that he or she is receiving active treatment.
I am not aware of ethics committees requiring general practitioners to be notified to enter these data in a specified way on to their computer systems. I hope that systems are being modified to account for this.
Competing interests: PR is a full time general practitioner with worries about prescribing.
References
- 1.Pirmohamed M, Darbyshire J. Collecting and sharing information about harms. BMJ 3004;329: 6-7. (3 July.) [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Randev P. Drug data records—a new hazard. Prescriber 2004;15(12).www.escriber.com/Prescriber/Features.asp?Action=View&ID=830&GroupID=36&Page=1 (accessed 12 Aug 2004).