Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. It is well established that the spontaneous reporting of ADR by the health-care professionals determines the success of a pharmacovigilance program, but not followed in practice. As the major reasons for the poor ADR reporting were said to be lack of awareness, training, and time, we did this study to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of nurses and junior doctors in our hospital towards ADR.
Aims and Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pharmacovigilance among interns, postgraduates, and nurses at Hassan Institute of Medical Science Teaching Hospital.
Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted among interns, postgraduates, and nurses working at Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, Hassan Karnataka. This validated questionnaire had 19 questions pertaining to knowledge, attitude, and practice of pharmacovigilance.
Results: The questionnaire was sent to 120 interns, 89 postgraduates, and 375 nurses. Of which, 410 responded (70.2% response rate). Interns had better knowledge than postgraduates and nurses, but a good attitude was seen among all but comparatively better among the postgraduates. Still, the practice of ADR reporting is poor overall. Even though 74% of them came across ADR, only 32% managed to report them.
Conclusion: This study found that even though knowledge regarding pharmacovigilance among the health-care professionals involved in the study is good, the rate of ADR reporting is very low. Taking advantage of their better attitude, adding a bit more education regarding its importance and training, ADR reporting can be very well improved.
Key words: Knowledge; Adverse Drug Reaction; Pharmacovigilance; Interns; Postgraduates; Nurses
|
