Hospital pharmacists' knowledge and opinions regarding adverse drug reaction reporting in Northern China

This study was designed to investigate the knowledge and opinions of hospital pharmacists about the spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in Inner Mongolia, a northern region of China.

A face-to-face questionnaire survey of hospital pharmacists was conducted in five tertiary general hospitals in Inner Mongolia between July and December 2007. The structured questionnaire consisted of questions about the demographic details of the pharmacists, their knowledge of pharmacovigilance and their opinions on pharmacists' involvement in ADR reporting.

Of the 288 pharmacists visited, 246 responded giving a total response rate of 85.4%. An amount of 70% of the pharmacists could define ADR correctly and 78.0% knew how to report ADRs. However, only one-third were clear as to what should be reported. The majority of pharmacists (92.7%) considered ADR reporting to be a professional obligation. However, only 36 (14.6%) claimed to have reported an ADR in their career, 25 of these 36 pharmacists (69.4%) were clinical pharmacists. Younger pharmacists and those who had received ADR training were more likely to report an ADR. The three major reasons for not reporting were: uncertain association (81.9%), insufficient clinical knowledge (68.6%) and lack of time (45.7%). The most frequently mentioned suggestion for improvement included more education on ADR reporting (66.7%), participation in ward rounds (43.9%) and encouragement from the pharmacy department (32.9%).

Our investigation showed hospital pharmacists in a northern region of China had a reasonable knowledge of and positive attitudes towards pharmacovigilance. However, the majority of pharmacists had never reported an ADR in their career. Pharmacists' ADR education and increasing involvement in patient care would be important in improving ADR reporting in hospitals.