Knowledge of adverse drug reaction reporting in first year postgraduate doctors in a medical college

INTRODUCTION Poor reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) by doctors is a major hindrance to successful pharmacovigilance. The present study was designed to assess first-year residents' knowledge of ADR reporting. METHODS First-year postgraduate doctors at a private medical college completed a structured questionnaire. The responses were analyzed by nonparametric methods. RESULTS All doctors were aware of the term "adverse drug reactions." Fifty percent of the doctors reported being taught about ADR reporting during their undergraduate teaching, and 50% had witnessed ADRs in their internship training. Ten percent of patients suffering an ADR observed and reported by doctors required prolonged hospitalization for treatment as a result. Only 40% of interns reported the ADRs that they observed, while 60% did not report them. Twenty-eight percent reported ADRs to the head of the department, 8% to an ADR monitoring committee, and 4% to the pharmacovigilance center. Eighty-six percent of the doctors surveyed felt that a good knowledge of undergraduate clinical pharmacology therapeutics would have improved the level of ADR reporting. CONCLUSION The knowledge of first-year doctors regarding ADR reporting is quite poor. There is a dire need to incorporate ADR reporting into undergraduate teaching, and to reinforce this during internships and periodically thereafter.