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Knowledge of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Among Healthcare Professionals in Bhutan: A Cross-Sectional Survey

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Abstract

Introduction

The Bhutan National Pharmacovigilance Centre (NPC) became an official member of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring in December 2014; however, the number of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported is very low (50 reports per 773,722 inhabitants over 10 years). Surveys of healthcare professionals (HCPs) in similar countries have indicated that adequate knowledge of both ADRs and ADR reporting is likely to increase the number of ADR reports submitted.

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate the level of knowledge of both ADRs and ADR reporting among HCPs, including traditional medicine practitioners.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted, using a validated self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed to 670 HCPs, including clinical doctors, nurses, pharmacists and traditional medicine practitioners from four referral hospitals. The survey consisted of 12 questions pertaining to ADRs and 10 questions pertaining to knowledge of ADR reporting. The collected response was then analysed descriptively and results presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD) using SPSS version 20.

Results

The overall response rate was 434 (65 %) questionnaires, with HCPs consisting of clinical doctors (94, 22 %), nurses (257, 59 %), pharmacists (52, 12 %) and traditional medicine practitioners (31, 7 %). The overall mean ± SD score with regard to the level of knowledge of ADRs was 6.52 ± 2.81 out of a maximum score of 12, among which clinical doctors scored 7.48 ± 2.95, nurses 6.15 ± 2.47, pharmacists 8.15 ± 2.49 and traditional medicine practitioners 4.13 ± 3.18. The mean ± SD score with regard to the level of knowledge of ADR reporting among HCPs was 3.94 ± 1.89 out of a maximum score of 10, among which clinical doctors scored 3.93 ± 1.81, nurses 3.75 ± 1.74, pharmacists 5.00 ± 1.81 and traditional medicine practitioners 4.00 ± 1.77.

Conclusion

Clinical doctors and pharmacists have better knowledge of ADRs than nurses and traditional medicine practitioners, while knowledge of ADR reporting was low for all HCPs surveyed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all HCPs from the JDWNRH, Eastern Regional Referral Hospital, Mongar (ERRH), Central Regional Referral Hospital, Gelephu (CRRH) and the National Traditional Medicinal Hospital, Thimphu (NTMH) for their active participation and cooperation in responding to the questionnaire. They would also like to thank Mr. Sherab Tenzin from the Department of Traditional Medicine Services, Mr. Thubten Tshering and Mr. Thinley Dorji from the Pharmacy Department, JDWNRH, Mrs. Dechen Wangmo from the ERRH, and Mrs. Tshering Choden from the CRRH for their support in disseminating the questionnaires, and Mrs. Yani for her support during the pilot study at Phuentsholing General Hospital. The authors would also like to acknowledge Mr. Jigme Tenzin and Mrs. Sangay from the Drug Regulatory Authority for their support in printing the questionnaires, and acknowledge the help of Sir Michael Rutland, OBE, MA, for proofreading the manuscript prior to submission.

Without approval from the Ministry of Health of Bhutan and the Management of the JDWNRH, this survey would not have been possible. Therefore, the authors would like to share their gratitude to the Ministry of Health and the management of the JDWNRH and Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency for their substantial financial support for the data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol University, 447 Sri-Ayudhaya Road, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand

    Choki Dorji, Pramote Tragulpiankit & Arthorn Riewpaiboon

  2. Drug Regulatory Authority, Thimphu, Bhutan

    Choki Dorji

  3. Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences, Thimphu, Bhutan

    Tashi Tobgay

Authors
  1. Choki Dorji
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  2. Pramote Tragulpiankit
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pramote Tragulpiankit.

Ethics declarations

This study was conducted upon receiving approval from the Research Ethics Board of Health, Ministry of Health, Bhutan, under approval reference number REBH/Approval/2014/026 on 17 October 2014, and approval letter reference number (SC) 3771/2014 dated 8 October 2014 from the Institutional Review Board, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Mahidol University, Thailand.

Funding

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this study.

Conflict of interest

Choki Dorji, Pramote Tragulpiankit, Arthorn Riewpaiboon and Tashi Tobgay have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this study.

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Dorji, C., Tragulpiankit, P., Riewpaiboon, A. et al. Knowledge of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Among Healthcare Professionals in Bhutan: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Drug Saf 39, 1239–1250 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-016-0465-2

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