Effect of pharmacovigilance education programme on knowledge and attitude of nursing students

Effect of Pharmacovigilance Education Programme on Knowledge and Attitude of Nursing Students Aim: To evaluate the knowledge and attitude of nursing students regarding pharmacovigilance and reveal the effect of education on these items. Material and Method: This was an observational, cross-sectional and quasi-experimental interventional study that was performed on nursing students (n=372) by a questionnaire. Before the education, participants responded the sociodemographic questions and those associated with knowledge and attitude of pharmacovigilance. Afterwards, a face-to-face group education on pharmacovigilance via a verbal slide presentation technique was given to each class. After the education, volunteers filled out the questionnaire regarding knowledge and attitude. Results: When the total points of knowledge of total students was assessed, median scores after (18) and before (4) the education was significantly different (p=0.0001). In this regard, the percentage of those who were aware of the ADR was only 16.93 before and 88.17 after the education (p=0.0001) and percentage of pharmacovigilance awareness came from 12.36 to 83.60 after the education (p=0.0001). When the state of attitude in the whole students and in those from different classes were evaluated, positive response ratios to the questions were lower before but affirmatively changed after the education. Only 37.09% of the volunteers agreed that prevention, recognition, treatment and reporting of ADRs are crucial and necessary, the percentage of which shifted to 96.23 after the education (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Although the state of knowledge and attitude of the students were low at the beginning, education greatly improved both knowledge and attitude at least within the short period. Keywords: Adverse Drug Reaction; Education; Pharmacovigilance; Nursing Students