A STUDY TO ASSESS KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF PHARMACOVIGILANCE AMONGST SECOND YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS OF A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN NORTH MAHARASHTRA.

Abstract

Pharmacovigilance (PV) plays a vital role in the healthcare system through assessment, monitoring and discovery of interactions amongst drugs and their effects in human. Medicines do come with their respective adverse effects.  Therefore it is imperative to do Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) monitoring while they are being marketed. PV is a part of the second MBBS curriculum, but often given less importance by the students. If this Knowledge Attitude & Practice of PV can be made effective during the MBBS course itself, it may make the students better aware about ADR monitoring.

Aims & Objective: Our purpose was to find out the knowledge, attitude & practices amongst the second year medical students in a tertiary care hospital in North Maharashtra.

Methods: This was an observational based study which had predesigned questions. After seeking the approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee, questionnaire was given to second year students of a tertiary care hospital in north Maharashtra. MS Excel was used for data analysis.

Results:  The overall response rate was 76%. 30% answered knowledge question correctly whereas 70% answered the attitude questions correctly. Only 4 % had reported an ADR and majority felt that busy duty hours and fear of legal action was the reason for underreporting.

Conclusion: Our study revealed that in spite of PV being part of 2^nd year MBBS, it still needs more emphasis and attention. The   student feedback regarding ADR after they visit wards may help in improving the general awareness.

Keywords: Pharmacovigilance, Knowledge, Attitude, ADR.