Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Among Community Pharmacy in Gondar Town, Ethiopia, 2021

Background: Drugs can treat diseases, reduce symptoms, and enhance patients’ health and quality of life. However, taking a drug is not always as easy as just swallowing a pill. This is because drugs have some unwanted effects. Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality and contribute to excessive health care costs. Objectives: To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of health care providers on adverse drug reporting among community pharmacists, Gondar, Ethiopia Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study designs were used from July - August 2021. The sampling method was a survey from community pharmacists. Self-administered questioner was used, and the collected data was entered into Epi-info Version 7.0 and exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. Result: The study included 215 community pharmacy professionals to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of adverse drug reaction reporting. From a total of 215 community pharmacy professionals, 34 (15.8%) of the respondents were able to differentiate ADR from side effects and only 56(26%) respondents felt that they are adequately trained in ADR reporting. Out of 215 respondents, 78(36.3%) and 146(67.9%) knew the availability of the national reporting system and ADR reporting form in Ethiopia respectively. The study revealed that 21.4% [95% CI: 18.6-35.9] and 42.3% [95% CI: 38.2-65.9] of community pharmacists have poor knowledge and negative attitude towards ADR reporting respectively. Conclusion: Underreporting of ADR by community pharmacists was identified in this study. Training sessions to clarify the role of various community pharmacists in ADR reporting will hopefully fill the observed gap in knowledge and practices. The community pharmacy should formulate strategies to enhance the detection and reporting of ADRs.

Stimulated adverse drug reaction reporting in pharmacovigilance: Indian perspectives

Introduction: The voluntary reporting of adverse drug reactions requires continuous stimulation and motivation. Methods: It is achieved by the development of a positive approach towards pharmacovigilance among healthcare professionals so that adverse reaction reporting becomes an accepted and understood routine. Results: In summary, the various strategies developed and made available in India to stimulate reporting, promotion, educational interventions/ awareness program/academics, hospital-based ADRs reporting, establish a culture of reporting. Conclusions: These exclusive strategies progress the reporting rate in India by altering the mindset of healthcare professionals, undergraduates, and consumers towards safety reporting.

Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice in Relation to Pharmacovigilance and Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting: A Systematic Review

Aim. To describe and synthesize aspects of knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting and to explore associated barriers from a nurse perspective. Methods. A systematic review was conducted. Electronic databases including MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Knowledge from January 2010 to October 2020 were searched. Original observational studies that were written in English and which focused on nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, practice, and perceived barriers regarding pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting in various healthcare settings were included. Results. Twenty-three studies published in English from 2010 to 2020 were retrieved during the search process. Overall, in the knowledge domain, the median percentages of nurses who were aware of the definitions of ADRs were 74.1%, while only 26.3% were aware of the adverse drug reaction reporting form. In the attitude domain, 84.6% of nurses believed ADR reporting to be important for patient/medicine safety and 37.1% had a fear of legal liability following ADR reporting. Although 67.1% of nurses encountered ADRs during their professional life, only 21.2% had a history of ADR reporting. In addition, lack of knowledge/training (median: 47.1%) was identified as the most common barrier in ADR reporting from a nursing viewpoint. Conclusion. Despite positive nurse attitudes, knowledge and practice in relation to pharmacovigilance activities and ADR reporting did not occur regularly or often. Improving nurses’ knowledge through in-service training and degree-level education and addressing the main barriers of ADR reporting may help to achieve an improved level of reporting.

Legislation and current developments in adverse drug reaction reporting in Mongolia: how far are we?

Monitoring adverse drug reactions is a vital issue to ensure drug safety and to protect the general public from medication-related harmful effects. In order to properly monitor drug safety, a regulatory system needs to be in place as well as an infrastructure that allows for analyzing national and international safety data. In Mongolia, adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting activities have been implemented in the past decade. During this period, the basic structure and legal basis of an adverse drug reaction monitoring system was established. Because of the fragmented but growing healthcare system and the complexity of pharmaceutical issues in Mongolia, a sustainable process for the development of the adverse drug reaction reporting system is a key issue. The aim of this article is to disclose the Mongolian situation for the rest of the world and to share experiences on how an ADR reporting system can be developed towards a higher and more advanced level to contribute to both national and international drug safety issues. In this article, we review the features of the Mongolian health care and pharmaceutical systems, as well as the current development of the adverse drug reaction reporting system.