Knowledge, Attitude And Practice Of Pharmacovigilance Among Health Care Professionals At Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Since its inception in 2004, the Pharmacovigilance Department of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) in Kenya has been leading efforts to ensure that medicines in circulation are safe to consumers. However, the Department has faced major challenges, among them under-reporting of adverse drug events (ADRs) by healthcare workers and staff shortages, which have severely limited its ability to conduct its duties. It is important that health care workers are aware that reporting ADRs and medication errors can significantly promote patient safety. Aim: The study aimed to examine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare workers on pharmacovigilance at Kenyatta National Hospital, and to identify barriers to effective implementation of pharmacovigilance. Methodology: The study was conducted in 2 parts. The first part involved an analysis of adverse drug reactions reports collected at the Kenyatta National Hospital since 2012 to date. All official yellow suspected adverse reaction reporting forms were collected and analysed using Stata version 10.to explore the hospitals’ reporting trends and elicit the patterns emerging from them. The second component involved a qualitative baseline survey of healthcare workers that assessed, in turn, the knowledge, attitude and practice of pharmacovigilance. This entailed conducting structured in-depth interviews with healthcare workers (clinicians, pharmacists and nurses) at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. Deductive thematic analysis was used to establish, categorize and describe themes and patterns emerging from the qualitative data. Written informed consent was sought from every respondent before the interview. Approval to conduct the study was sought from The University of Nairobi/Kenyatta National Hospital Ethics and Research Committee and The Kenyatta National Hospital.