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. 2025 Sep 22;33(5):32.
doi: 10.1007/s44446-025-00025-3.

Spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting: potential facilitators perceived by community pharmacists in Egypt - a cross-sectional study

Mohamed Bahlol  1 , Mary Bushell  2 , Hani M J Khojah  3 , Rebecca Susan Dewey  4
Affiliations

Spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting: potential facilitators perceived by community pharmacists in Egypt - a cross-sectional study

Mohamed Bahlol et al. Saudi Pharm J. .

Abstract

Pharmacists are recognized as specialists in medications and are responsible for maintaining drug safety. A recent study showed that Egyptian community pharmacists face several barriers to the spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). This study aimed to identify the potential facilitators perceived by community pharmacists in Egypt that could enhance ADR reporting and contribute to the development of national ADR data. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire distributed to 1,316 community pharmacists in Egypt. Of the 905 respondents (68.7% response rate), only 125 (13.8%) revealed they had reported an ADR, with 30 (24.4%) being unable to correctly identify ADR types and 34 (27.2%) reporting they lacked the training required to do so. Key facilitators identified be respondents included ensuring that ADR-related training is available from universities (95.7%), the Egyptian Pharmacists Syndicate (91.9%), and peer-reviewed journal articles (90.6%). Participants advocated for simplifying the reporting process (92.5%), providing clear instructions (92.8%), having access to a smartphone application (80.0%), receiving regular reminders (92.4%) having their role promoted in the media (95.6%). Community pharmacists are crucial in ADR reporting, especially in low-to-middle-income countries e.g. Egypt. The study identified several facilitators to improve reporting practices, including educational interventions, process enhancements, and motivational strategies. Implementing these facilitators could address underreporting and data inaccuracies.

Keywords: ADR reporting; Adverse drug reactions; Community pharmacists; Egypt; Medication safety; Pharmacovigilance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by the institutional review board of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Egyptian Russian University (reference number: ERUFP-PP-17–001), and informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the Helsinki declaration as revised in 2013 and its later amendments. Conflict of interests: The author declares no financial or non-financial conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Data collection flowchart
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Potential facilitators to adverse drug reaction reporting as suggested by the pharmacists
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Policy implications
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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