Abstract

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality globally. The school has recently been recognized as an ADR monitoring center under the National Pharmacovigilance Program. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) about pharmacovigilance among health-care providers and medical students of the school and associated hospitals. Aims and
Objective: The aim of the study was to assess knowledge awareness and practice of pharmacovigilance among health-care providers at a tertiary care hospital Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences, Ballari.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey was conducted. A pretested and validated questionnaire for assessing the KAP of pharmacovigilance among the health-care providers and medical students was used.
Results: The knowledge and attitude of health-care providers toward reporting of ADRs was satisfactory. Awareness about the pharmacovigilance activities within the institution was less as only 27% were aware and quite 90% of participants agreed that reporting of ADRs is vital, should be made mandatory, and believed that it might help patient safety within the future. However, 50% of health-care providers reported regular ADRs. The explanations for not reporting ADRs included difficulty in knowing whether an ADR has occurred or it is a symbol of disease, and lack of your time, ADR is already documented, managing the patient is more important, or ADR is mild. Training on the way to report an ADR during their professional course was received by 60.4% of the health-care providers. The pharmacists were less aware, whereas the medical students were cognizant about the importance of pharmacovigilance. Conclusion: There is a requirement to enhance the culture of reporting ADRs among the health-care providers within the institute. The primary step would be to extend awareness about facilities and processes in situ for reporting ADRs. Incorporation of coaching about pharmacovigilance within the curriculum of all the health-care providers may help in increasing awareness and practice of reporting ADRs.