AMSP Network (AMSP)

The AMSP (Arzneimittelsicherheit in der Psychiatrie) drug safety program assesses severe adverse reactions to all marketed psychotropic drugs in the naturalistic setting of routine clinical treatment of psychiatric inpatients. For AMSP purposes,psychotropic drugs also include neurologic drugs such as anticonvulsants and antiparkinson drugs. Presently,about 60 hospitals in Germany,Austria and Switzerland take part in the program. Physicians working in the hospitals systematically record severe events,i.e. those that are (potentially) life-threatening or seriously endanger the patient‘s health,or considerably impair everyday functioning,or require the patient‘s transfer to another department or ward providing more intensive care. The AMSP study protocol provides additional guidelines organized by organ classes. The project is open ended and started in 1993.