Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Towards Pharmacovigilance Amongst Healthcare Providers at Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in the Gambia

Abstract

Background: According to the World Health Organization, pharmacovigilance is the research and practices involved in the identification, evaluation, comprehension, and mitigation of side effects or any other hazard relating to medications or immunizations. Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are a major public health concern in today`s world. As a result, ADR reporting in The Gambia must be taken seriously because drug-drug interactions, drug-disease interactions, or food-drug interactions can exacerbate ADRs that occur in the patient without the Healthcare providers' knowledge. More importantly, this research should support the need for legislation to prevent ADRs. This research was aimed to assess healthcare professionals' understanding, attitudes, and pharmacovigilance practices at The Gambia's Edward Francis Smalls Teaching Hospital. Methods: Healthcare providers from the Edward Francis Smalls Teaching Hospital in The Gambia participated in an observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study to understand the extent of their knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards PV. The independent variables in the study were the socio-demographic factors used to characterize healthcare providers from the EFSTH. The sample size was calculated using software Epi info version7.Inclusion criteria was certified or licensed health care provider but those who are not willing to participate will not be included in the study. The data analysis was performed using Epi info version7. 2, Microsoft excel, MAXQDA and SPSS version 20. All statistical tests conducted were considered significant at 95% confidence interval with a p-value less than 0.05. Results: The response rate based on this sample size was 51% (n=102).

 A total of 102 participants were included in the final analysis, of which by profession the majority were Nurses 66 (64. 2%) and by gender most were female 58(56. 9%). Majority of the participants belong to the age of ranging from 20-37 years 89(87.5%).102(100%) of the respondents all agreed reporting ADR was necessary. Majority of the respondents 86(84.7%) had moderate knowledge score but however within the professions the pharmacist had a high score of 3(60%) amongst the participants. Most subjects 86(84.3%) had a positive level of attitude amongst the profession the nurses scored highest 57(86.4%). Most of the participants 81(79.4%) scored inadequate towards practices. By profession, Nurses had the most inadequate practices 55(53.9%), Doctors 22(21.6%), Pharmacist 3(2.9%) and physiotherapist 1(1%). In general, the practice towards pharmacovigilance was inadequate amongst most of the participants at the tertiary care Centre. The study found out a statistical significance between profession and Adverse Drug Reactions reporting training at p=0. 009. Conclusion: The study found out a statistical significance between profession and Adverse Drug Reactions reporting training at p=0. 009 which expose that most of the participants have not undergone training in area of pharmacovigilance and ADR Reporting alarming a need to include pharmacovigilance in undergraduate curriculum for healthcare providers. However, these findings are not surprising given the sample population in this study from low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) like The Gambia is much more deprived of adequate education about Adverse Drug Reactions and pharmacovigilance activities compared to the general population in the developed nations. Therefore, there is a need for a national KAP study regarding the use of National Pharmacovigilance guidelines to be conducted in order to identify the key factors spurring low Adverse Drug reaction reporting rates within The Gambia.