A study of knowledge, attitudes, and practice of dental doctors about adverse drug reaction reporting in a teaching hospital in India

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of dental doctors about adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, questionnaire was administered to 95 dental doctors working in a teaching dental hospital attached to a medical college with an ADR monitoring center (AMC). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Descriptive statistics were used to analyze responses. The association of knowledge and attitude with respect to position of dentists was analyzed with Chi-square test. RESULTS: The response rate and spontaneous reporting rate was found to be 61.0% and 13.7%, respectively. Important factors contributing to under reporting of ADRs include lack of awareness about AMC in the institute (81.0%) and pharmacovigilance program (72.4%), complacency (67.2%), lack of training to identify ADRs (65.5%), fear factor (63.7%), lethargy (58.6%), lack of risk perception of over the counter product related ADR (39.6%), inadequate risk perception of nonallopathic and herbal medicines (31%), indifference (27.5%) and concern that report may be wrong (27.5%). No significant difference in knowledge and attitudes of doctors with respect to position was found except for reporting of ADRs of newly marketed drugs and serious reactions to established product (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The deficiencies in knowledge and attitudes appear to be the underlying factor for under reporting by dental practitioners. It should be addressed urgently in order to increase spontaneous reporting by them.