Knowledge, attitude and perception of physicians towards adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting: a pharmacovigilance study

Abstract

Background: Contribution of physicians, in adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting and monitoring, to develop a global database is enormously significant to ensure safety of medicine. But, in reality, due to lack of awareness among the healthcare providers, under-reporting of suspected ADRs is a major problem, especially in countries like India. Present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of the physicians regarding self-reporting of ADR in a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational and questionnaire-based study involving physicians of different clinical departments. This questionnaire-based study was conducted to obtain the demography as well as information on knowledge, attitude and perception of physicians towards ADR reporting. Ethical clearance was obtained prior to start the study.Results: 50 doctors were included in the study after their verbal consent. It was revealed that average time taken to complete the answering of questionnaire by the physicians was 15 minutes. Among the study population (n=50), 54% of the participants were Postgraduate doctors and the rest 46% were graduates. 92% believed that it is necessary and would be beneficial for the patient to report ADRs. 74% also believed that ADR reporting is a professional obligation for doctors.Conclusions: Present study evaluated that majority of the healthcare professionals had good knowledge and attitude about pharmacovigilance and understand the need for reporting, but the rate of reporting was very low. More interactive training programme is needed to increase the awareness of reporting ADRs by healthcare professionals.