Publication:

Knowledge, attitude and practice study regarding pharmacovigilance programme of India among private practitioners in urban Odisha, India

Background Private health care providers play an important role in health programmes of a country. Pharmacovigilance programme of India (PVPI) seeks involvement of different health sectors to make it successful. Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) studies provide a base line information about human behaviour and practices so that a properly planned acceptable intervention can be made.

Methods level of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding pharmacovigilance programme of India was evaluated among doctors working in private hospitals/clinics of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack city of Odisha. A thirty three item questionnaire was used to collect the data which contained 12 knowledge, 12 attitude and 9 practice based questions.

Results Only fifty four out of 124 participating doctors responded positively. The knowledge level of practitioners was found to be acceptable with 38.9% subjects scoring more than 70%. However a gap in knowledge was observed regarding some specific area and was not translated in terms of good quality reporting of ADRs. Only 13 (24.1%) practitioners were found to have actually reported ADR to Pharmacovigilance centre.

Conclusions Adequate awareness should be created among private practioners regarding the pharmacovigilance programme of India. Easy accessibility of ADR forms and appropriate educational intervention through media can improve ADR reporting.