A hospital-based survey of healthcare professionals in the awareness of pharmacovigilance.
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to investigate the awareness of pharmacovigilance by healthcare professionals in Jiangsu, China.


METHODS
This study was carried out in 62 hospitals in Jiangsu province, China, between May and August, 2007, using a closed and choice questionnaire. The data were entered using the EpiData3.1 software and analyzed by chi (2)-test, single-factor analysis, and multi-factor logistic regression using the SAS9.1 software.


RESULTS
A total of 2361 questionnaires were suitable in completeness for the statistical analyses. The participants were found to have a good recognition of basic adverse drug reaction (ADR) knowledge, administration knowledge, and drug use rationale, but poor awareness of pharmacovigilance. Significant differences existed in the awareness of pharmacovigilance across regions, hospital classes, and professions. Single-factor analyses showed that region, hospital class, profession, department type, and length of service in the current position, education level, and professional title all significantly affected the degree of awareness. More stringent multi-factor analyses showed that the degree of awareness was highly related to region, hospital class, profession, education level, and professional title.


CONCLUSIONS
The study participants had better basic ADR knowledge than pharmacovigilance knowledge. The study suggests that it is imperative to provide special training to healthcare professionals from different regions and different departments in order to improve the awareness of pharmacovigilance and the development of ADR monitoring.
China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, PR China.
Houming
H
Xu
Yue
Y
Wang
Naifeng
N
Liu
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001364:Awareness; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged