The knowledge and attitude of pharmacists toward pharmacovigilance in Kahramanmaras

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major public health problem. Therefore it is important to follow the safety of drugs and to report their adverse effects after they are sold. Underreporting by healthcare professionals is seen as an important limitation to the improvement of pharmacovigilance systems. Pharmacists have an important responsibility in monitoring the ongoing safety of medicines and in reporting ADRs because they are the last to interact with the patients and they are easily accessible by them. In this study, we aim to investigate the knowledge and attitude of pharmacists about pharmacovigilance in Kahramanmaras and to contribute to the formation of a database from a pharmacoepidemiological perspective. For this purpose, we conducted a face-to-face survey on 200 pharmacists in Kahramanmaras and 190 pharmacists responded to the survey. The questionnaire included questions about the sociodemographic characteristics of the pharmacists, their knowledge of pharmacovigilance and their attitudes towards ADR reporting. Twenty percent of the pharmacists who participated in this study defined pharmacovigilance correctly. Fifty five point eight percent of the pharmacists stated that patients reported an ADR to them during the previous 12 months. Pharmacists indicated that antibiotics (%40,8), analgesics (%16) and cardiovascular drugs (%12,8) were the most common drug groups that caused ADRs. Although 55.8 percent of the pharmacists believed that reporting ADRs was necessary, only 8.4 percent of them reported ADRs. Pharmacists who did not report ADRs listed 'not having enough knowledge', 'not thinking it is necessary' or 'not having enough time' as main reasons. The results of the present study demonstrate that the majority of the pharmacists in Kahramanmaras have insufficient knowledge about pharmacovigilance practices and ADR reporting. Undergraduate and post-graduate educational programs need to be developed to increase awareness about pharmacovigilance and to improve ADR reporting. Key Words: Pharmacist, Pharmacovigilance, Adverse drug reaction, Adverse drug reaction reporting, TUFAM