Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE RELATED TO PHARMACOVIGILANCE AMONG THE HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS IN A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN CENTRAL INDIA: AN QUESTIONNAIRE STUDY

Dr. Torwane Nilesh Arjun*, Dr. Hongal Sudhir, Dr. Abhishek Gouraha, Dr. Shubham Jain, Dr. Kalpesh Chavan, Dr. Ashwini Dayma

ABSTRACT

Aim: The present cross sectional questionnaire survey was conducted with an aim of assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice related to pharmacovigilance among the healthcare professionals in a teaching hospital located in central India region. Materials and Methods: To assess the demographic details of the healthcare professionals, their knowledge, attitude and practices towards pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting; a predesigned, structured, close-ended 18 item questionnaire was used. Results: A total of 392 questionnaires were distributed among the healthcare professionals. It was found that only 38.01% healthcare professionals comprising of 54.43% medical, 38.01% nursing and 19.01% dental professionals were aware regarding the existence of pharmacovigilance program of India. While, only 40.56% healthcare professionals felt that ADR monitoring centre should be established in every hospital. Similarly, very few healthcare professionals i.e. 6.12% have ever reported ADR to pharmacovigilance centre. Conclusion: The results of our study indicate that majority of the healthcare professionals had a poor knowledge and attitude about pharmacovigilance. There was a huge gap between the ADR experienced and ADR reported by the healthcare professionals especially among dentist and nursing staff. It has been advised that the healthcare professionals; especially dental and nursing, should be trained properly on ADR reporting to improve the current scenario in the pharmacovigilance programme of the country.

Keywords: Pharmacovigilance, Healthcare professionals, adverse drug reactions, ADR reporting.