Adverse drug reactions (ADRS) reporting: awareness and reasons of under-reporting among health care professionals, a challenge for pharmacists

OBJECTIVES: To measure awareness about adverse drug reaction (ADRs) reporting among doctors, pharmacists and nurses and to determine reasons of ADRs under-reporting in Pakistan. METHODS: In present study, a self-administered questionnaire was used to measure the awareness level about ADRs reporting among health care professionals (HCPs) of Pakistan. This was a cross sectional study. RESULTS: Out of the respondents 51 % were physicians, 29.7 % pharmacists and 19.3 % were nurses. 65.5 % of HCP population observed ADRs, out of which only 57.4 % reported these in their respective hospitals. About 77.3 % of population understood the importance of reporting ADRs while 67.3 % of population agrees that pharmacists are chief personnel for the development of system. 71.8 % of HCPs agrees that ADRs are not reported because Community pharmacy lacks legally qualified pharmacists. Only 14.3 % of HCPs population knows that there is any ADR reporting organization in Pakistan. CONCLUSION: The study recommends the need of such reporting system and more than half of the studied population agreed that pharmacists are required in developing such system.