title: Nurses' self-reported medication competence in relation to their pharmacovigilant activities in clinical practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) represent a major health problem and previous studies show that nurses can have an active role in promoting medication safety. The aim of this study was to describe and evaluate nurses' self-reported competence and pharmacovigilant activities in clinical practice and also to explore the impact of age, education, workplace and nursing experience on these matters.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was based on a questionnaire covering areas related to nurses' medication competence, including knowledge, assessment and information retrieval, and pharmacovigilant activities within these areas, for example, the detection and assessment of ADRs. A 45-item questionnaire was 2013 sent out to 296 nurses in different settings and counties in Sweden. They were selected on the basis of having applied to a university course including pharmacovigilance during 2008-2011. One hundred twenty-four had participated in the courses (exposed) and 172 had applied to the courses but not participated (unexposed).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Completed questionnaires were obtained from 75 exposed (60%) and 93 unexposed (54%) nurses. Overall nurses rated themselves high in medication competence but low in pharmacovigilant activities. Significant (P ≤ 0.001) differences between groups were observed regarding medication competence. The exposure of completed dedicated courses in pharmacovigilance was the strongest factor for self-reported medication competence when adjusted for age, other education, workplace and experience. No significant differences between the groups were found regarding the number of pharmacovigilant activities during the 6 months prior to answering the questionnaire.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dedicated university courses improved nurses' self-reported competence in pharmacovigilance but did not increase the number of related activities. Education per se seems to be not sufficient to generate pharmacovigilant activities among nurses.
authors.affiliation: School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden.
authors.forename: Rose-Marie
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Johansson-Pajala
authors.forename: Lene
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fastbom
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jorsäter Blomgren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020377:Self Efficacy; D057566:Self Report; D013548:Sweden; D017132:Workplace
keywords: education; medication management; nurse; patient safety; pharmacology; pharmacovigilance