Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES AMONG COMMUNITY PHARMACIST ABOUT REPORTING OF ADVERSE DRUG REACTION IN SOUTH INDIA: A QUESTIONNAIRE BASED STUDY

Chitra C. Nair*, Sunitha Mahadevan, Asheeta A., Hima C. S. and Beena M. I., Fathima Beevi

Abstract

Adverse drug reaction (ADR) is one of the leading cause of morbidity and mortality which leads to too much health care costs. The study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of community pharmacists regarding reporting of adverse drug reaction in South India with the aim of identifying reasons for under-reporting of ADRs. A cross sectional study was conducted among community pharmacist for a period of three months from August 2019 to October 2019, using a well-structured validated questionnaire with a total of twenty two questions. The study population was 244 community pharmacists. The mean age of participants was 27.08 years. More than half of participants 132(54.1%) were D Pharm and worked in independent pharmacy 152(62.29%), 80(32.79%) participants who said they were familiar with the ADR reporting process were asked whether they knew the regulatory body to which ADR should be reported. Answers included pharmacovigilance (20%) followed by CDSCO (15%), Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (15%) and WHO (10%). The majority of participants (90.57%) had never reported ADR. Major reason for not reporting ADR was lack of awareness about method of reporting (52.46%). Thus it can be concluded that community pharmacists have poor knowledge and practice on ADR reporting, but their attitude towards ADR reporting was found to be good, which indicates need for training programs on pharmacovigilance. Pharmacovigilance authorities should adopt essential steps to plan interventional programs to enhance the knowledge of community pharmacist about ADR reporting process.

Keywords: Pharmacovigilance, Knowledge, attitude and practice, ADR reporting