ADS Capstone Chronicles Revised
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insurance coverage could improve the system as well. Essentially, each report shouldbeacasestudyofthepatientbecause studies have shown that there is a relationship between these datapoints and healthoutcomes(Danaeietal.,2009;Merrill & Factor-Litvak, 2019). Thus, having this additional information could be useful to protect the public and mitigate the public health burden of adverse drug reactions. Since pharmaceutical companies cannot scale their research into the millions, improving the usefulness of this reporting system could be advantageous for consumers, the government, and pharmaceutical companies. To increase reporting rates in FAERS, two approaches could be implemented. Approach one ismorepubliceducationand outreach.TheFDAshouldbepromotingthe system so that the public is aware of its existence. Even though drug labels may contain the FAERS website link or FDA phonenumber,somepeoplelacktheliteracy to understand label warnings (Davis et al., 2006).Thesecondapproach,andpotentially the most impactful, is that all prescribing doctors and nurse practitioners should be required to report prescribed drugs and follow-up with patients about any potential ADRsthroughoutthecourseoftreatment.If physicians are required to track patient outcomes in FAERS, this would allow for incredibly accurate assessments of population norms for ADRs caused by specificdrugs.Doctorshaveadutytowarn, and should be required to be proactive in
assessing impacts of pharmaceutical drugs in their practice. This is important because patientsarenotawareofthepotentialADRs associated with their prescribed drugs and lack the medical training to realize if an ADR is occuring. Studies have found that miscommunication between doctors and nurses impacts the delivery of important information to patients (Ashbrook et al., 2013). However, the delivery of potential side effect information must be framed in such a way to reduce placebo-fueled side effects. Mao et al. (2021) found that positively framing side effect warnings reduces placebo side effects compared to negative framing,highlightingthecognitive impact of patient education. Thisprojectisafirststeptowardsbuildinga precision public health model of adverse drug reaction data. While the system could be improved, the design and underlying goals represent the kind of thinking that offers public benefit. Future work should strive to create patient-focused models that can be usedtounderstandtheintersectional impacts of adverse drug events. Acknowledgements We are grateful to the University of San Diego for the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained from the Applied Data Science Master’s Program in this Capstone course. We specifically thank Dr. Ebrahim Tarshizi, PhD, for his guidance and recommendations throughout this project.
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