Attitudes and opinions of Portuguese community pharmacy professionals towards patient reporting of adverse drug reactions and the pharmacovigilance system

Abstract

Background An adverse drug reaction (ADR) is a harmful and unintended response to a drug. The Portuguese National Pharmacovigilance System (NPS) receives reports from healthcare professionals and consumers, then analyzes the reports to help prevent, eliminate or minimize the risks of drugs to consumers. Community pharmacy professionals (CPPs) have privileged access to consumers, and throughout their pharmacotherapeutic follow-up and the professional–consumer relationship, they can perceive possible ADRs and encourage consumers to report. The aim of this survey was to evaluate CPPs as role players in improving consumers’ involvement in pharmacovigilance and to describe their attitudes related to the pharmacovigilance system and consumers’ reporting of ADRs.