A survey of knowledge, attitude and practice of adverse drug reaction monitoring among doctors in Western Odisha region

Abstract

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are the major cause of drug related morbidity and mortality. Pharmacovigilance is the science that plays an important role in the reduction of ADRs. Voluntary reporting of ADRs by healthcare professionals is an important tool in the success of pharmacovigilance program, but the same are scantly reported due to lack of awareness and knowledge among the physicians. So, the present study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding ADR reporting among healthcare professionals at a tertiary care hospital.Methods: A questionnaire-based study containing 25 questions (knowledge- 18, attitude -2 and practice- 5) was conducted in 70 prescribers and time allotted to complete it was 1 week. Statistical analysis was done by using Graph Pad Prism version 6.01.Results: Out of 70 prescribers, only 50 (71.43%) responded. ADR reporting was considered very important by almost all of them, but actual practice was lacking as only 36% of consultants had reported any ADR. The higher grading was given to causes most important for reporting were patient safety, to identify safe drug and new ADRs. The main reasons for under-reporting were unavailability of reporting forms when needed, uncertain association and lack of knowledge about reporting procedure.Conclusions: The prescribers are aware of the importance of ADR reporting, but lack of awareness and knowledge are most common cause of under-reporting. So, there is need of pharmacovigilance awareness program to improve voluntary reporting of ADRs.