ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF DOCTORS TOWARD ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS (ADRs) REPORTING IN A NIGERIAN TERTIARY HEALTH FACILITY

BACKGROUND: Adverse drug reactions, (ADRs), constitute an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Spontaneous adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting is the bedrock of post-marketing surveillance but under-reporting remains its major drawback. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at evaluating the attitude and practice of ADR among doctors in a tertiary health facility in Oyo State, Nigeria, with a view to improving ADRs reporting. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire based study involving medical doctors working at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso. Consenting doctors were evaluated on their attitude and practice of ADRs through self-administered questionnaire. Data obtained were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 17. RESULTS: A total of 35 doctors responded to the questionnaires. Only about 57.1% considered ADR before prescribing, all of whom were also aware of the procedure for reporting. Awareness of the existence of National Pharmacovigilance Center (NPC) was 71.4%. Thirty (85.7%) of the respondents have encountered ADR, but only 2.9% have ever reported it with yellow form. Majority (85.7%) of the respondents did not consider ADR reporting as a useful tool in the prevention of drug related morbidities and mortalities. Other factors that may hinder ADR reporting include: lack of awareness of the existence of yellow forms for reporting (68.6%) and poor knowledge of procedure for reporting (48.6%). CONCLUSION: ADR reporting rate was very low among the participants in this small study; large studies aimed at evaluating the determinants of ADR reporting should be considered. Should these findings be confirmed, training and re-retraining through Continuing Medical Education (CME), and establishment of pharmacovigilance committee would be required to ensure a national pharmaovigilance system.