An observational cross-sectional study to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of resident doctors and nursing professionals regarding pharmacovigilance in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Central India

Background: Adequate knowledge, positive attitude and motivated practice of pharmacovigilance are the building pillars of ADR reporting. This study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge and attitude towards pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting among the resident doctors and nursing staff in AIIMS Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire based study was carried out in a tertiary care centre. The survey was carried out using a pre-validated questionnaire that included 20 questions to evaluate the participant’s knowledge, attitude and practice. Results: Answers to knowledge based questions were given correctly by around 82.6% (95% CI 0.7576 to 0.8794) of resident doctors and 74% (95% CI 0.6033 to 0.8424) nursing professionals. The difference of basic knowledge about pharmacovigilance between resident doctors and nursing professionals was insignificant (p-value is 0.7967). The most common reason for underreporting was unawareness, which was opted by 69% (95% CI 0.6153-0.7617) of resident doctors, while among the 58% (95% CI 0.4422-0.7064) nursing staff, the major factor was non-feasible ADR monitoring system in hospital. The suggestion of conducting training and awareness programme to promote ADR reporting given by resident doctors and nursing staff were 85% (95% CI 0.7872-0.0957) and 80% (95 % CI 0.6677-0.8895) respectively. Conclusions: The participants were well aware of pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting. They had expressed the positive attitude towards pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting. But the routine practice of reporting ADRs is lacking. Hence there is need for increasing awareness and building positive attitude and practices among the health care professionals.