Health Care Workers’ Knowleddge and Perceptions About Pharmacovigilance and Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting

Abstract

Spontaneous adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting is the cornerstone of pharmacovigilance. However, underreporting is a huge problem due to lack of reporting, especially in developing countries, where system of pharmacovigilance is not consolidated. A descriptive crosssectional survey is conducted on health professionals (physicians and nurses) working in Mother Theresa hospital in Tirana from September 2017 to June 2018 aimed to estimating the level of pharmacovigilance knowledge and practice of health professionals. A questionnaire which was suitable for assessing the basic Knowledge, Attitude and the Practice (KAP) of pharmacovigilance was designed and distributed among the physicians and nurses and filled up forms collected back and analyzed by using software SPSS 20. Out of 250 distributed forms 200 forms were received back, reflecting a response rate of 80%. Results of this survey have shown that 80% of interviewed didn't know about the term of pharmacovigilance Over 90 % of declaration of adverse drug reaction were made to the medical representatives and less than 10% to the National Pharmacovigilance Centre. 50 % of physicians and 65 % of nurses were not aware of the existence of National Pharmacovigilance Center. A wrong definition of pharmacovigilance term was given by 60% of physicians and 70% of nurses. Pharmacovigilance is a public health problem in Albania, with due to lack of good knowledge and practice of medical staff (physicians and nurses). There was a great need to create awareness among physicians and nurses to improve the knowledge about pharmacovigilance and the reporting of ADRs.

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Nurses towards Pharmacovigilance and Adverse Drugs Reactions Monitoring and Reporting: Cross-Sectional Study in Lahore, Pakistan

“…It can also have the ability to produce some reactions that are undesirable and are called drug adverse reactions. Unpleasant drug reactions are adverse drug reactions that result from the use of medical products (Napuce & Tabaku, 2019). Drug-to-drug interaction is harmful and the leading cause of illness and death.…”