Survey on suspected adverse drug reaction reporting for healthcare professionals and consumers

Overview

About the survey

Medsafe is conducting this survey to better understand healthcare professionals’ and consumers’ knowledge, experiences and behaviours relating to reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs; also called side effects). We are interested to know what encourages or discourages you to report ADRs, your experiences with the reporting process, how you prefer to receive feedback about your ADR report and information on the latest medicines safety information.

This survey opened on 2 November 2026 and closes on 15 January 2027.  

In 2018, Medsafe conducted a similar survey on ADR reporting. We have included some of the questions to this survey so we can measure changes over time and evaluate the impact of initiatives and activities we have taken to increase awareness of ADR reporting in New Zealand.

What will happen to my survey response? 

The information you provide us will be used to publish a publicly available summary report after the survey closes. Your feedback will help Medsafe identify opportunities to improve New Zealand’s ADR reporting system and guide future awareness and education campaigns. 

Learn more about reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions in New Zealand

In New Zealand, anyone who thinks they may have experienced an ADR due to a medicine or vaccine can report it to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring and Medsafe (CARM/Medsafe). You do not need to be a healthcare professional to make a report, and you can also report on behalf of someone else.

It’s important to remember that you don’t need to be certain that the medicine caused the reaction to make a report, just suspicious.

When you submit an ADR report, Medsafe enters it into the New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Database. The physicians at CARM assess non-routine reports, which involves assessing the likelihood that the suspected adverse reaction was caused by the medicine (causality assessment).

Following assessment, CARM may provide a response or seek further information from the reporter and may enter a warning or danger in the national Medical Warning System if appropriate.

By reporting ADRs, you are making an important contribution to the safety monitoring of medicines and vaccines in New Zealand by enabling Medsafe to detect and respond to potential safety issues.

Medsafe also maintains a publicly searchable online database of anonymised ADR reports submitted to CARM/Medsafe, which is called the Suspected Medicine Adverse Reaction Search (SMARS). 

Further information:

Take part in the survey

Click on the link below to go the survey. Please note:

  • This survey is intended only for healthcare professionals and consumers who live in New Zealand.
  • Some questions in the survey are compulsory and must be answered before moving to the next question.
Go to the survey

Closes 15 Jan 2027

Opened 2 Nov 2026

Contact

medsafeadrquery@health.govt.nz

Audiences

  • Health sector
  • Members of the public

Interests

  • Therapeutic products