Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Among Community Pharmacy in Gondar Town, Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Background: Drugs can treat diseases, reduce symptoms, and enhance patients’ health and quality of life. However, taking a drug is not always as easy as just swallowing a pill. This is because drugs have some unwanted effects. Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality and contribute to excessive health care costs. Objectives: To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of health care providers on adverse drug reporting among community pharmacists, Gondar, Ethiopia Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study designs were used from July - August 2021. The sampling method was a survey from community pharmacists. Self-administered questioner was used, and the collected data was entered into Epi-info Version 7.0 and exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. Result: The study included 215 community pharmacy professionals to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of adverse drug reaction reporting. From a total of 215 community pharmacy professionals, 34 (15.8%) of the respondents were able to differentiate ADR from side effects and only 56(26%) respondents felt that they are adequately trained in ADR reporting. Out of 215 respondents, 78(36.3%) and 146(67.9%) knew the availability of the national reporting system and ADR reporting form in Ethiopia respectively. The study revealed that 21.4% [95% CI: 18.6-35.9] and 42.3% [95% CI: 38.2-65.9] of community pharmacists have poor knowledge and negative attitude towards ADR reporting respectively. Conclusion: Underreporting of ADR by community pharmacists was identified in this study. Training sessions to clarify the role of various community pharmacists in ADR reporting will hopefully fill the observed gap in knowledge and practices. The community pharmacy should formulate strategies to enhance the detection and reporting of ADRs.