Yellow Card
One important way in which pharmacovigilance data can be acquired is for Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) and other individuals to submit Individual Case Study Reports (ICSRs). In the UK one way in which ICSRs are submitted is using the Yellow Card system.
In practice this can be done either:
- Using the paper forms provided, for instance, at the back of the BNF
- Using the MHRA website
- By Medicines Information pharmacists using the software MiDatabank
In both cases the data is sent to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
To see a slide show of a presentation about Yellow Cards in the UK click here
To view an example of a paper Yellow Card form click here
In the Middle East countries have a variety of systems for collecting pharmacovigilance data. For example in Abu Dhabi the Health Authority (HAAD) has a well developed website designed to collect data from Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), this system can be seen at the HAAD website www.pdic.haad.ae , which is then passed to the Ministry of Health and onto the WHO office in Uppsala.
Currently a system (Yellow Cards (Middle East)) is being evaluated to enable the collection and analysis of pharmacovigilance data from ICSRs submitted by Healthcare Professionals in other Middle Eastern countries.
In addition the latest version of MiDatabank, version 3, has the facility to collect data from MI enquiries which include adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and forward these to the relevant national authority. In the UK the MHRA has established a web service specifically for collecting data from MiDatabank.