International Journal of Pharmacology and Clinical Sciences, 2019, 8, 1, 73-78.
DOI: 10.5530/ijpcs.2019.8.13
Published: February 2019
Type: Original Article
Authors: Fatima Fouad Al Doughan, Yousef Ahmed Alomi, and Mais Hasan Iflaifel
Author(s) affiliations:
Fatimah Fouad Al Doughan1, Yousef Ahmed Alomi1, Mais Hasan Iflaifel3
1Pharmacy Practice Department, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Alahsaa, SAUDI ARABIA.
2The Former General Manager of General Administration of Pharmaceutical Care and Former Head, National Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice and Pharmacy R and D Administration, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA.
3Pharmacy Practice Department, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Alahsaa, SAUDI ARABIA.
Abstract
Background: Pharmacists’ perception toward their role in reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) and their understanding of the importance of reporting ADRs are essential keys to be assessed and studied in order to determine the factors that may predispose to underreporting of ADRs in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to assess and compare the perception of community and hospital pharmacists toward reporting of ADRs in different regions of Saudi Arabia. Method: A structured, validated questionnaire was used to conduct a cross-sectional study. A total of 263 pharmacists were enrolled. The questionnaire included the demographic data of the pharmacists and 11 questions to measure pharmacists’ perceptions of ADRs reporting. All statistical analysis done by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 and Survey Monkey system. Result: The result shows that community and hospital pharmacists strongly agree that reporting of ADRs allows measuring the incidence of ADRs 29 (55.77%), 121 (58.45%) and identifying previously unrecognized ADRs 30 (57.69%), 116 (56.59%) and enable safe drugs to be identified 39 (70.91%), 129 (62.32%), respectively with no significant difference (p>0.05). Besides, both hospital pharmacists 116 (55.77%) and community pharmacists 31 (60.78%) strongly agree about their important role in the pharmacovigilance system. However, only 67 (32.52%) of hospital pharmacists strongly agreed about the physician’s responsibility in reporting ADRs compared to community pharmacists 29 (52.73%) with a significant difference between groups (p<0.05). However, 37 (17.87%) of hospital pharmacists were uncertain about drug companies’ role in the pharmacovigilance system with a significant difference between community pharmacists (p<0.05). Conclusion: The result of this study demonstrated that both community and hospital pharmacists among Saudi Arabia had a very good perception about the importance of ADRs reporting and their role in reporting ADRs.
Keywords: Adverse drug reactions, Community, Hospital, Perception, Pharmacist, Pharmacovigilance, Saudi Arabia