Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 17;20(4):3548.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20043548.

Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices about Pharmacovigilance among Community Pharmacists in Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Suhaj Abdulsalim  1 , Maryam Farooqui  1 , Mohammed Salem Alshammari  1 , Meshal Alotaibi  2 , Abdulfattah Alhazmi  3 , Abdulmajeed Alqasomi  4 , Waleed Mohammad Altowayan  4
Affiliations

Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices about Pharmacovigilance among Community Pharmacists in Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Suhaj Abdulsalim et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Pharmacovigilance (PV) is an essential activity to detect adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and ensure patient safety. Hence, we aimed to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding PV among community pharmacists in Qassim, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by using a validated questionnaire after obtaining ethical approval from the Deanship of Scientific Research, Qassim University. The sample size was calculated based on the total number of pharmacists in the Qassim area by using Raosoft, Inc. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20 was used for data entry and analysis. Ordinal logistic regression was performed to identify the predictors of KAP. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 209 community pharmacists participated in the study; 62.9% of them defined the PV correctly, and 59% of them defined ADRs correctly. However, only 17.2% knew where to report ADRs. Interestingly, the majority of participants (92.9%) reported that it is necessary to report ADRs, and 73.8% of them were willing to report ADRs. A total of 53.8% of the participants identified ADRs during their careers; however, only 21.9% reported ADRs. Barriers discourage ADR reporting; the majority of the participants (85.6%) do not know how to report ADRs.

Conclusion: Community pharmacists who participated in the study were knowledgeable about PV, and their attitude towards reporting ADRs was highly positive. However, the number of reported ADRs was low because of the lack of knowledge on how and where to report ADRs. Continuous education and motivation about ADRs reporting and PV are warranted among community pharmacists for the rational use of medications.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia; adverse drug reaction reporting; community pharmacists; pharmacovigilance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scatter plot with regression line to show the correlation between knowledge and attitude. There is a statistically significant positive weak correlation between knowledge and attitude (R = 0.26).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scatter plot with regression line to show the correlation between knowledge and practice. There is a statistically significant positive weak correlation between knowledge and practice (R = 0.32).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatter plot with regression line to show the correlation between attitude and practice. There is a statistically significant positive weak correlation between attitude and practice (R = 0.28).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. What Is Pharmacovigilance? [(accessed on 16 December 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/teams/regulation-prequalification/regulation-and-saf....
    1. Members of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring [Online] [(accessed on 16 December 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who-umc.org/global-pharmacovigilance/who-programme-for-inter...
    1. Pharmacovigilance. [Online] [(accessed on 16 December 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/medicines/areas/quality_safety/safety_efficacy/pharm...
    1. International Drug Monitoring: The Role of National Centres, Report of a WHO Meeting [Held in Geneva from 20 to 25 September 1971] [(accessed on 21 December 2022)]. Available online: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/40968.
    1. Montastruc J.L., Lafaurie M., de Canecaude C., Durrieu G., Sommet A., Montastruc F., Bagheri H. Fatal adverse drug reactions: A worldwide perspective in the World Health Organization pharmacovigilance database. Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 2021;87:4334–4340. doi: 10.1111/bcp.14851. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types