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National Adverse Drug Event Awareness Day

When is National Adverse Drug Event Awareness Day? This day will take place March 24 of each calendar year.

What is National Adverse Drug Event Awareness Day? This day will shine a light on the fourth leading cause of death in America, adverse drug events.

Why is this day being observed? Adverse drug events—which include medication errors, medication side effects, allergic reaction to medications, and overdoses—annually account for 1 million emergency department visits, 2.2 million hospital admissions, 3.5 million physician office visits, and $136 billion in U.S. health care costs. According to the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ), adverse drug events are the #1 most costly and #1 most preventable hospital-acquired condition.

How should this day be observed? On National Adverse Drug Event Awareness Day, patients are encouraged to share their journey with an adverse drug event and healthcare professionals and organizations are encouraged to share their work to champion medication safety using the hashtag #fourthcause.

Who created this day? This day was created in February 2021 by the American Society of Pharmacovigilance.