Adverse drug reactions (ADRS) reporting: awareness and reasons of under-reporting among health care professionals, a challenge for pharmacists

OBJECTIVES To measure awareness about adverse drug reaction (ADRs) reporting among doctors, pharmacists and nurses and to determine reasons of ADRs under-reporting in Pakistan. METHODS In present study, a self-administered questionnaire was used to measure the awareness level about ADRs reporting among health care professionals (HCPs) of Pakistan. This was a cross sectional study. RESULTS Out of the respondents 51 % were physicians, 29.7 % pharmacists and 19.3 % were nurses. 65.5 % of HCP population observed ADRs, out of which only 57.4 % reported these in their respective hospitals. About 77.3 % of population understood the importance of reporting ADRs while 67.3 % of population agrees that pharmacists are chief personnel for the development of system. 71.8 % of HCPs agrees that ADRs are not reported because Community pharmacy lacks legally qualified pharmacists. Only 14.3 % of HCPs population knows that there is any ADR reporting organization in Pakistan. CONCLUSION The study recommends the need of such reporting system and more than half of the studied population agreed that pharmacists are required in developing such system.