Screenplay of pharmacovigilance among nursing staff in Bangalore

Abstract

Pharmacovigilance is an important and integral part of clinical research. With burgeoning reports of 
adverse drug reactions (ADR) due to pharmacotherapy, pharmacovigilance (PV) is the buzz word in 
health care circles. India has 15 thousand hospitals having bed strength of 6lakh, 24 thousand. It is the 
fourth largest producer of pharmaceuticals in the world. It is emerging as an important clinical trial hub 
in the world. Many new drugs are being introduced in our country. Adverse drug reactions enhance 
suffering of patients and increase morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to evaluate the 
awareness of nursing staff working in Bangalore regarding PV, and its reporting. A questionnaire 
containing 27 questions was prepared and distributed to 230 nurses. Response rate of this survey was 
64.35%. Out of these, 31.76% were hospital nurses, 26.35% were community nurses and 41.89% were 
teaching field nurses. Only 40.54% of nurses were found to know the broad meaning of 
pharmacovigilance. The correct meaning of the term 'adverse drug reaction' was known to 27.70% 
nurses. Majority of nurses (77.03%) did not report the ADRs noticed by them. Only 4.05% nurses had 
tentative information that reporting can be done at national monitoring center and/or regional 
monitoring centers and/or peripheral monitoring centers. Further, only 3.38% nurses knew Victoria 
Hospital/Bangalore Medical College as the ADR monitoring centers of Bangalore. Out of these, only 
0.68% nurses had the phone number and/or address of these centers. It indicates that the ADR 
reporting is done by nurses at places other than official monitoring centers. Nurses reported ADRs to 
physicians, Head Nurse, product management team, Pharmacist and chief pharmacist. Nurses in 
Bangalore have poor basic knowledge of Pharmacovigilance, ADR and its reporting. Nurse's 
participation in ADR reporting is negligibly low. Education and training of nurses is essential to 
improve the ADR reporting. Nurse's active participation along with other healthcare providers would 
increase the ADR reporting rate. Pharmacovigilance should be included in the nursing curriculum.