Knowledge, attitude, and practice of vaccine vigilance among the post-graduates in tertiary care hospital, Telangana

Abstract

Background: To make sure that the hazards of using medications do not outweigh the benefits, the safety of medicines has been given more consideration. This is the rationale behind the pharmacovigilance system’s development over many years. This is based on patient and health-care provider reports of adverse responses observed. Vaccinations are an integral part of the prevention of infectious diseases; therefore, good knowledge, a better attitude, and good practice toward its usage are of utmost importance. Being future key health-care professionals, medical post-graduates have an immense responsibility to report adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Hence, the present study was taken to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding vaccine vigilance among post-graduates. Aims and Objective: The aim and objective of the study are to evaluate the post-graduate knowledge, attitude, and reporting practices regarding adverse events following immunization (AEFI). Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on post-graduates in a tertiary care hospital. A standardized questionnaire on vaccinevigilance was distributed among 120 participants and ethical approval was taken before the study. A total of 38 questions about knowledge, attitude, and reporting practices regarding AEFI were developed and distributed to post-graduate students of respective clinical departments. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. For data comparisons, chi-square test was used. P ≤ 0.05* was considered as statistically significant. Results: The study showed that a majority (95.8%) in the 25–36 years of age group with female predominance (52.5%) and a high percentage (55.8%) of study participants were 2nd-year post-graduates. The knowledge (χ2 = 12.645, P = 0.03) of the participants was found to be accurate with a good attitude (χ2 = 69.082, P = 0.01) and practicing behavior (χ2 = 33.711, P = 0.01). Conclusion: Accurate knowledge, attitude, and practicing behavior were observed in post-graduates in the present study. The majority of medical post-graduate students felt that ADR reporting and monitoring are very important and add to patients’ safety.