Lack of Awareness of Pharmacovigilance among Young Health-care Professionals in India: An Issue Requiring Urgent Intervention

BACKGROUND: Young healthcare professionals (HCPs) are the pillar of healthcare system. The objective of the present study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of young HCPs regarding adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reporting. METHODS: This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted on young HCPs in a tertiary care teaching hospital of North India. The study instrument was semi-structured, prevalidated questionnaire. The responses obtained were compared among doctors and nursing professionals. RESULTS: We obtained response from 84 HCPs (61 doctors and 23 nurses). The mean age of the doctors and nurses was 25.0 ± 2.4 versus 26.3 ± 3.4 years, respectively. No significant difference was observed in questions related to definition of ADR, components of pharmacovigilance (PV), who can report ADRs and medications for which ADRs are to be reported. Only 9.8% doctors and 26.1% nurses were aware of ADR reporting system in India, of which 6 (26%) nurses and none of the doctors were aware of its name. About 16.4% doctors as compared to 61% nurses admitted to have reported an ADR (P < 0.001). The main discouraging factor in ADR reporting was time constraint while lack of knowledge was also highlighted by the HCPs. More nurses as compared to doctors (78.3% vs. 49.2%, P = 0.01) were of the opinion that holding continuing medical education/workshop could encourage reporting. CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need to increase awareness about PV among young HCPs, and adequate interventions should be instituted to encourage PV practices.