Attitudes, experience and practice about adverse drug reactions of dentists in republic of North Macedonia

Abstract

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are possible with any medication that is prescribed or administered in the dental office. Evaluating the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of healthcare providers regarding pharmacovigilance and ADRs reporting can help to devise strategies for improving reporting schemes to ensure patients’ safety. The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes, experience and practice about ADRs reporting of dentists in Republic of North Macedonia. This study included 100 dentists employed in public and private healthcare institutions in the city of Skopje. The research was conducted using an anonymous survey questionnaire intended for healthcare professionals. Our results showed that 60% of dentists responded positively, that is, that it is necessary to report ADRs, 70% of the respondents responded positively, that healthcare professionals need to be familiar with the pharmacovigilance system. 45% of dentists declared that they have observed ADRs in their patients, and only 16% reported them. 64.45% of registered ADRs are unreported by dentists, and the main factor that discourages them is the difficulty in determining whether they are ADRs or not. This study showed that majority of the dentists had positive attitude towards pharmacovigilance, and that they understand the need for ADRs reporting, but the rate of reported ADRs is very low. Greater implementation of the pharmacovigilance system and cooperation between universities, dentists, patients, manufacturers, the government and national agencies, the media, the civil society and the international organizations working on drug safety is needed.