Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Pharmacovigilance Among Health Care Professionals in Indonesia

Abstract

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) defines pharmacovigilance (PV) as a science and activities related to detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effect or any other drug related problem. It aims to enhance patient care and patient safety in drug use. Although Indonesia has joined WHO International drug safety monitoring program since 1970s, the implementation is not applied effectively especially in developing country and there are poor contribution of health care professionals (HCPs) as an agent of the program. In this study, we assessed current knowledge, activities and practice of PV among HCPs in Indonesia. Methods: This is a preliminary survey using a questionnaire distributed among HCPs through health seminar and internet. The questionnaire consists of statement/question about knowledge(6), activities(6) and whether HCPs who encounter ADRs handle and report it correctly. If the respondents gave 80 % suitable answers in the knowledge or attitude sections, they were categorized as having “good” knowledge or attitude. We analyzed whether knowledge, attitude and other characteristic had any influence on the respodents PV practice. Results: We included 109 questionnaires from 118 distributed questionnaires. Most of the respondents were females (90 respondents, 82.6%), medical doctors (100 respondents, 91.7%), and were working in primary health care level. Good knowledge was found in 28 (25.7 %) of respondents, while good attitude towards PV were found in less than 20 % (18) of the respondents. Only 4 (3.7 %) of total respondents did a good pharmacovigilance practice. We found no significant association between level of knowledge, attitude and other factors to the poor pratice of PV. Conclusion: The knowledge, activities and practices of pharmacovigilance among HCPs in Indonesia were poor and requires a continuous socialization among HCPs in different level of care