Knowledge, attitude and practices of health workers towards adverse drug reaction reporting in private hospitals in Kampala

Abstract

Introduction: Adverse drug reaction in its severe form leads to medicine induced morbidity, mortality and economic constraints to the health care system. To effectively address the public health challenges associated with adverse drug reactions (ADRs), they should be reported whenever they occur. Uganda reports below the expected 200 ADRs per one million inhabitants per year set by world health organization. Adverse drug reactions reporting is a major health system challenge that has been greatly attributed to factors broadly associated with knowledge, attitude and practice of health workers. Objective: This study was designed to assess knowledge, attitude and practices of health workers towards adverse drug reaction reporting in private hospitals in Kampala. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on142 health workers (nurses, medical clinical officers, medical doctors and pharmacists) from 20 private hospitals in Kampala. In each of these hospitals, 7-8 health workers were sampled. These were surveyed about their knowledge, attitude and practices towards ADR reporting. Data was analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Health workers responses about knowledge, attitude and practices were scored, a cut off was set at 75% for each variable. Knowledge was categorized as being knowledgeable or not knowledgeable, Attitude was categorized as negative or positive and practices as poor or good depending on the overall score of the respondents. Results: The average age of the respondents was 35 years. 56% of the respondents were males and 44% were females. Knowledge about ADR reporting, majority of the respondents 68% (97) were not knowledgeable about ADR reporting in the hospitals. it was also observed that only 35% (49) of the respondents had a positive attitude towards ADR reporting. The practices of respondents indicated that only 26% (37) had good practices. Conclusions: most of the health workers were not knowledgeable about ADR reporting and majority their attitude is negative. In addition, many their practices of reporting are poor therefore, reporting of ADR is a great health challenge in private hospitals that deserves to be addressed to improve patient care and medicine safety.