Abstract
The contribution of all key healthcare professionals is vital to promote an efficient adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting system. In this context, nurses are important as they are in a better position to observe a patient’s response regarding the drug therapy and to report an ADR. The aim of the study was to explore the perspectives of nurses about ADR reporting system in Lahore, Pakistan. A total of 21 nurses were interviewed. The thematic content analysis of the qualitative interviews yielded six major themes and eight subthemes. Major themes included: (1) Knowledge about the concept of the medication safety & the ADR; (2) Knowledge regarding pharmacovigilance activities; (3) Willingness to report; (4) Practices related to the ADR reporting; (5) Barriers to the ADR reporting; (6) Facilitators to the ADR reporting. The majority of the nurses were aware of medicine safety and ADRs, but in many cases, they were unable to report these ADRs. The study pointed out considerable concerns regarding the knowledge and practices of nurses about pharmacovigilance activities in their workplace, mainly due to increased workload, due to the absence of a reporting system and legal liability. The main challenges turned out to be the lack of knowledge and training, as well as the implementation of guidelines. Based on the findings, it is suggested that outcome of this study can serve as a guide to design policies that support ADR reporting by nurses in Pakistan.
Highlights
Saving the patients from the perceived harm of medicines and to improve public health, the development of a mechanism is crucial
The system of improving medicine safety is known as “pharmacovigilance” which is an umbrella term, comprises of effective drug regulation systems, public health programme and clinical practice to describe the process for adverse drug reaction (ADR) monitoring and its evaluation [1]
The present study found that there were gaps in the knowledge of nurses, though participants were well informed about medication safety, it’s importance while dealing with the patients and about the importance of reporting an ADR and its reporting
Summary
Saving the patients from the perceived harm of medicines and to improve public health, the development of a mechanism is crucial This mechanism can help evaluate and monitor medicine safety in clinical use. A comprehensive and efficient PV system considers the identification of risks in data collection, and takes into account risk evaluation, its minimization and the communication of risks, saving the population from the harmful effects of drugs. This is done through a structured system of post marketing surveillance by making appropriate decisions to improve the safe use of medicines [2]. Public Health 2020, 17, 3039; doi:10.3390/ijerph17093039 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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