Knowledge, attitude and practice of ADR reporting among clinical residents: A rural medical college survey

Abstract

Introduction: Pharmacovigilance practices have persistently suffered from under-reporting of ADRs by the clinicians. The present study was done to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of clinical residents towards ADR reporting to provide insight into the reasons for this under-reporting. Methodology: A 21 item semi-structured questionnaire was used to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices of 81 clinical residents towards ADR reporting. Statistical analysis was done using non-parametric tests. Results: All the residents were familiar with the term “ADR” and more than 80% of the residents were aware of the professionals supposed to report ADR, nearest regional pharmacovigilance center and its regulatory bodies. Even though 80.6% residents had witnessed ADR, 76.7% failed to report them and of those who reported ADR only 33.3% reported it to the proper authority. The two most common reported barriers were “difficulty in deciding whether ADR has occurred or not” (38.3%) and “Lack of time to report ADRs” (37.2%). Around eighty five percent acknowledged being taught ADR reporting in the undergraduate CPT teaching. However, only around twenty four percent experienced such training during their internship and post-graduation. Only 58.3% felt that reporting an ADR is a professional obligation. Conclusions: Although the clinical residents are good enough in knowledge about ADR reporting, they are not willing to put this knowledge into practice due to various perceived barriers and dismal attitude towards the whole process of reporting of ADRs. The relentless efforts towards proper training and creating awareness among the clinical residents will surely improve the pharmacovigilance practices.

Key words: ADR reporting, Pharmacovigilance, Clinical residents