A Study of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting among Healthcare Professionals in North India and Identification of Causes of Under-Reporting

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) are encountered commonly in daily practice and are an emergent cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. They are an imperative public health crisis causing a substantial fiscal burden on the health care systems. Awareness about the ADR among the health care professionals can decrease the irrational pharmacy and raise an alarm for adverse drug reaction reporting. Good pharmacovigilance practice will identify the risk and risk factors in the shortest possible time so that harm can be avoided or reduced to minimum. This study was conducted in a teaching hospital in Northern India to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practice of pharmacovigilance among the healthcare professionals. It also aimed at understanding the causes of under-reporting and to focus on possible ways by which ADR reporting can be improved. The study was an observational, non-interventional, questionnaire-based study. The study revealed positive results where 96.3 % of Healthcare Professionals included in study were aware of Pharmacovigilance. Also, majority of them considered it as a professional obligation. Lack of remuneration, time and trained professionals were the major causes of under-reporting. This study demonstrated that there is improvement in the knowledge and attitude towards pharmacovigilance among health care professionals but the actual reporting practice is still lacking and needs improvement.