Knowledge and Attitudes of Resident Physicians about Adverse Drug Reactions

Abstract

Objective: WHO reported to all healthcare providers in its universal message that thousands of patients' lives could be saved by reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the knowledge levels and attitudes of the resident physicians about ADRs and pharmacovigilance in our university hospital. Methods: This prospective study was performed by a questionnaire form consisted of 14 questions on 88 resident physicians who accepted to participate the study in Harran University Hospital. The study was started after takening the approval of Harran University Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee. The results of the questionnaire were evaluated by using SPSS 18.0 package program by frequency and percentage tests. Results: The exact definition of ADRs is correctly marked by 51.1% of doctors. Most of the physicians (69.3%) stated that they had never do ADR reporting. The rate of the participants who think that it is not the responsibility of the healthcare professionals to make ADR reporting is 9.1%. It was observed that only 6.8% of the physicians received professional information or training on ADR reporting. It was expressed by 72.7% of physicians that ADR is a serious problem in Turkey. Conclusions: This study showed that the level of knowledge and attitude of resident physicians working in our hospital about ADR reporting was not sufficient. We believe that it is important to raise awareness among the healthcare professionals about the ADR reporting and the situation can be improved by effective and periodical training methods.