Publication:

A study on awareness of pharmacovigilance and determinants of underreporting of adverse drug reactions by health care professionals and general practitioners

Background Health care providers/professionals (HCPs) play a critical role in ADR surveillance. Only 6% of all ADRs are reported and under-reporting acts as great impedance in exchange of drug information.

Methods This was a prospective questionnaire-based study. Structured questionnaire was issued to HCPs before and after the conduct of Pharmacovigilance awareness program and scores given to each question was analyzed statistically.

Results Of the 69 participants, 46.4% were nurses, 40.6% were residents of a tertiary health care facility and 13% were general practitioners in Pondicherry. The response rate was found to be 62.7% and 100% both before and after the awareness program respectively. Creation of awareness amongst HCPs is the most important factor (77%) influencing spontaneous reporting.

Conclusions Our study suggests that HCPs were aware of the concept of ADR but the majority did not know how and where to report. Thus, creation of awareness amongst HCPs is the most important determinant influencing spontaneous reporting of ADRs.