#2 Why we should listen to patients – Linda Härmark

As the end users of medicines, patients can provide first-hand
information on side effects. The issues they report add a
richness to our understanding of medicine safety that we could
never achieve by relying on healthcare professionals’ reports
alone – so it’s crucial that we listen to them. Linda Härmark
from the Netherlands pharmacovigilance centre Lareb tells us
more.


Tune in to find out:


What patient reports reveal about people’s use of medicines

How to make best use of the information relayed by patients

What to consider when setting up a patient reporting system



Want to know more?


Here are a few reading resources to get you started:


After fifteen years in the business, Lareb has lessons to
share on implementing and running patient reporting systems.

Pharmacovigilance pioneer Sten Olsson argues that patient
reporting is the future of pharmacovigilance.

Collaborating with patient organizations can help
pharmacovigilance centres deliver medicine safety updates to the
right audiences and understand how patients use medicines.

Patient reports can help identify previously unrecognized
side effects, like in the case of panic attacks with the
contraceptive desogestrel.

A collaborative signal detection workshop on patient reports
taught Lareb and Uppsala Monitoring Centre staff some valuable
lessons.

Every year, the #MedSafetyWeek campaign raises awareness of
medicine side effects and pharmacovigilance reporting systems –
join in!



If you’d like to hear more from the Netherlands pharmacovigilance
centre Lareb, check out this interview with Eugene van
Puijenbroek on intuitive and clinical reasoning.





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About UMCRead more about Uppsala Monitoring Centre
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