Comparative study of knowledge, attitude and practices of pharmacovigilance programme between clinicians and nurses in tertiary care teaching hospital of central India

Introduction: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) routinely occurs in clinical practice, raises the financial burden on both patients and hospitals. To monitor ADRs, vigilance programme commenced across the country since 2001. Also MCI made a compulsion to have ADR monitoring centre (AMC) in every medical colleges of India. As there is scarcity of comparative studies between clinicians and nurses, we planned study with objective of comparison between clinicians and nurses about KAP of pharmacovigilance programme. Material and Method: A cross-sectional, questionnaire based study. Clinicians and nurses of tertiary care teaching hospital of central India voluntarily answered the 28 pretested questionnaires. The study commenced only after approval of IEC. The duration of study was 12 weeks.100 clinicians and 100 nurses enrolled as participants. The data was analysed by graph pad prism version 6. Results: Statistically significant differences were seen between clinicians and nurses about awareness of national ADR reporting system, definition of ADR, definition of pharmacovigilance and knowledge of relation between serious adverse events &causality. 67% clinicians ticked “correct regulatory body”, responsible for monitoring ADR in India (p < 0.0001). Preferred mode to report ADRs in clinicians and nurses is phone. Conclusion: Clinicians had better knowledge and attitude about pharmacovigilance programme than nursing staff. So we recommend more focus on training of nurses in the form of CMEs and workshops with the emphasis on knowledge and attitude gaps, reducing the reporting anxiety and reducing the fear of legality associated with ADR reporting. Keywords: Pharmacovigilance, Adverse drug reactions, Clinicians, Nurses