A Survey on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Pharmacovigilance towards Adverse drug reactions reporting among Doctors and Nurses in a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India

Background: Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reaction is globally practiced it under pharmacovigilance programme. But the major drawback of this system is underreporting. In this context the present survey was conducted, to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of spontaneous ADR reporting among doctors and nurses in a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted among doctors and nurses in a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India. A pre-designed and structured multiple choice questionnaire containing 19 questions was used to assess knowledge (1-9), attitude (10-14) and practice (15-19). The data obtained were analyzed using appropriate statistical analysis through SPPS version 19.0. Results: A total of 318 healthcare professionals participated in the study. Among them 46.2% were doctors, and 53.8% were nurses. The participants had good knowledge regarding the purpose of monitoring ADRs, type of ADRs to report, who can report, etc. They also felt reporting of ADRs is a professional obligation and all ADRs should be reported. There was no significant difference in the knowledge and attitude between doctors and nurses. The practice of ADR reporting was significantly higher in doctors compared to nurses. Conclusion: The present study indicates that majority of participants have good knowledge about local hospital based ADR monitoring. However, the transition from knowledge to practice was not adequate. ADR reporting can be further increased by improving access to ADR reporting forms, using user-friendly methods such as electronic reporting and by educational interventions targeting especially the junior healthcare professionals.