Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) can occur even when medications are prescribed and administered correctly, yet reporting has historically varied across Mayo Clinic campuses, limiting opportunities to identify enterprise-wide trends and improve patient safety. In this episode of Key in to Quality, a multidisciplinary team representing pharmacy, nursing, patient safety, quality, analytics and regional stakeholders shares how they developed a standardized, enterprise-wide approach to ADR reporting and evaluation.

After reviewing existing safety processes, FDA MedWatch standards and frontline feedback, the team created a five-level ADR severity scale focused on patient outcomes rather than medication errors. The scale was integrated into Mayo Clinic's electronic patient safety reporting system and paired with enterprise dashboards that enable standardized reporting, trend analysis and organizational learning.

Since implementation, the framework has improved reporting consistency, strengthened FDA reporting and enhanced the ability to identify system-level safety opportunities. Validation showed users applied the scale with more than 85% agreement compared with expert review, demonstrating how standardized reporting, multidisciplinary collaboration and enterprise data can transform individual adverse drug reactions into actionable insights that improve medication safety across the organization.

Host: Timothy Morgenthaler, M.D. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/timorgenthaler/

Host: Sheri Nemec| https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-sheri-nemec-a627982a/

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