| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT
Background; Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are scantly reported with poor contribution by healthcare professionals worldwide and in particular in developing countries. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reporting in retail community pharmacies in Kampala.
Methods; a cross sectional study was done in retail community pharmacies in Kampala. A self-administered questionnaire was adapted from similar studies that have been done and modified to our setting. Data was collected by the principal investigators and research assistants from dispensers in retail community pharmacies in Kampala. Completed questionnaires were collected and data were analyzed. Data were expressed in numbers as well as percentages.
Results; 203 healthcare professionals responded including 13 pharmacists, 34 pharmacy technicians, 24 allied health professionals, 126 nurses.
95% knew what the term adverse drug reaction means, 93% were aware that ADRs should be reported. 68% of the respondents knew that Uganda has ADR reporting forms, and that Uganda has a national Pharmacovigilance Centre. Overall 97% of the respondents had good knowledge.
All the respondents had good attitudes; all of them agreed that ADR reporting is important and necessary, and 71% thought that it should be voluntary. All participants were willing to take up a training on ADR reporting.
In practices; 45% of the respondents had ever suspected an ADR however only 9% of these had ever reported to the NDA with a frequency of less than 10 times. Only 24% of the respondents were aware of the availability of ADR reporting forms at the facility. 56% of the facilities encouraged reporting especially through training (94%) and only 25% of the community pharmacies have SOPs for reporting ADRs.
Conclusions; The study showed that the health care professionals had a good knowledge and attitude towards ADR reporting. However this was not reflected in the practices as most didn’t report ADRs despite suspecting their occurrence. | en_US |
