Knowledge, attitude, and practice of pharmacovigilance among intern doctors of peripheral medical college in Gujarat

ABSTRACT

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADR) are regarded as one of the major reason of morbidity and mortality all over the world. 3 According to previous studies, 35% of the hospitalized patients experience an ADR during their hospital stay. Various studies on pharmacovigilance indicate inadequate knowledge, poor attitudes, and lack of awareness among healthcare personnel are associated with a high degree of underreporting of ADRs. Intern doctors are one of the points of first contact when it comes to ADRs. Aim and Objectives: Aim of the study was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of pharmacovigilance in peripheral medical college among intern doctors. Materials and Methods: This study was a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study which was conducted at GMERS Medical College and hospital, Junagadh. Out of 90 intern doctors 70 have participated in our study. 18 questions were included in the questionnaire out of which ten related to knowledge, five related to attitude and three related to practice. Results: Average score of knowledge about pharmacovigilance is 5 points out of 10 point. Most of the intern doctors 92.9% (n = 65) are in a general consensus the reporting of ADRs is necessary and 88.6% are in the opinion that medical students like could play a major role in reporting ADRs. Difficult to decide whether ADR is occurred or not is most common factor (51.4%) which discourages intern doctors from reporting ADRs. Conclusion: Knowledge about pharmacovigilance can be enhanced by organizing various teaching programs on pharmacovigilance. Underreporting can be overcome by regularly arranging pharmacovigilance awareness program. Therefore, there is a necessity of undertaking educational program in every hospital to improve the attitude and knowledge toward ADRs reporting.