A questionnaire based study-assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of pharmacovigilance among health care professionals, pre and post educational intervention

Background: Pharmacovigilance (PV) is an important tool in generating adverse drug reaction (ADR) data. However, the practice of PV is still very low among health care professionals due to lack of knowledge and awareness. This study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, awareness and practice of PV among health care professionals and to assess subsequent change in these after PV training session. Methods: A cross sectional questionnaire based study was conducted among health care professionals of a tertiary health care and teaching institute. Participants were given a questionnaire. They completed it before and after undergoing training programme in PV. Impact of effectiveness of educational intervention (continuing medical education-CME (pharmacovigilance workshop) was evaluated by paired t-test. Results: Out of 110 participants, 96 participants completely filled the questionnaire before and after the educational intervention (CME). CME on PV was found to increase knowledge and positive attitudes towards various aspects of PV. Conclusions: Training programme on PV will help increase the knowledge as well as awareness about principles and techniques of PV and improve the rate of spontaneous ADR reporting. Organising frequent CME programmes and workshops will increase the credibility of health care in the country.