Impact of an educational intervention on knowledge and attitude regarding pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting among postgraduate students of a tertiary care teaching hospital

ABSTRACT

Background: Doctors doing postgraduation (PG) are backbone of any teaching-hospital and are in close contact with patients. It is important they have adequate knowledge and attitude towards adverse drug reaction (ADR)-reporting and Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI). Aim and Objectives: To study the impact of an educational intervention on knowledge and attitude of 1st year PG residents toward ADR reporting and Pharmacovigilance. Materials and Methods: An educational intervention was conducted among 1st-year postgraduate students, including a lecture on importance and need of pharmacovigilance, hands-on-training on how to fill Suspected ADR Reporting Form and group based interactive discussion. Knowledge and attitude of participants were recorded in pre-post intervention questionnaire and analyzed. Results: Sixty-three postgraduate students from clinical (82.5%), paraclinical (12.7%), and preclinical (4.7%) departments participated. Mean test-score improved from 7.27 to 11.65 (P < 0.005). Need for pharmacovigilance, ADR-reporting related terminologies, PvPI, who can report and where to report ADR, signal generation, types of ADR-forms, and legal implications of reporting were the major areas with significant improvement. About 87% agreed post-intervention that ADRs are a major cause of morbidity, 96% agreed there should be an ADR-Reporting Centre in every institute and 92% agreed they will try to find whether some drug might be responsible for any unusual symptom in patient. Conclusion: Educational intervention could improve knowledge as well as attitude toward ADR reporting among postgraduate doctors, long-term impact needs further assessment.