Knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with adverse drug reactions reporting among medical doctors and pharmacists at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

A study of patients on antiretroviral treatment attending the comprehensive care clinic at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) revealed high incidence (48.6%) of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) with underreporting being a key problem among healthcare professionals involved. The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices of medical doctors and pharmacists towards ADRs reporting in KNH. This was a descriptive cross sectional study whose sample size comprised 308 medical doctors and pharmacists working at the KNH, who are key decision makers in the provision of health services. A probability sampling was utilized via a skip interval random technique, to ensure each respondent in the different clinical units in the population were considered. Self-administered semi-structured questionnaires were used as data collection tools for the study that included demographic data. The overall level of knowledge of ADRs by the respondents was 60.5%. Majority of the respondents 187 (60.8%) named common ADRs along with medicines causing them while 219 (71.1%) identified medicines banned due to ADRs and the exact ADRs they caused. Majority of the respondents 199 (64.6%) did report they knew medicines banned due to ADRs. All healthcare professionals were identified by majority of the respondents 278 (90.3%) as qualified to report ADRs. Reporting ADRs was considered a professional obligation by 268 (87.0%) respondents, while 168 (54.5%) were aware of the existence of a Pharmacovigilance Department in Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) in Kenya and these were mainly pharmacists. Overall, pharmacists showed better knowledge, attitudes and practices compared to medical doctors from the values calculated.

The study report highlights deficits in the practice of ADR reporting can be resolved only if all healthcare professionals are made aware of the importance of reporting, the reporting system, and their obligation to report ADRs.