Spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting by community pharmacists: preparedness and barriers

Bahlol, Mohamed; Bushell, Mary; Khojah, Hani M.J.; Dewey, Rebecca Susan

Abstract

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are undesired, unintended responses to drugs, and are significantly underreported. Pharmacists are drug experts recognized as custodians of drug safety, who are expected to be prepared for and knowledgeable about ADR reporting. Objectives: To identify Egyptian community pharmacists’ preparedness for and perceived barriers to spontaneous ADR reporting. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited a sample of community pharmacists across Egypt, who were invited to complete a self-administrated questionnaire during April 2020. Results: A total of 923 pharmacists across Egypt responded to the questionnaire. Most pharmacists were knowledgeable about the definition of ADRs (93.9 %) and indicated they felt reporting ADRs benefits the patients (82.2%). Despite recognizing their public health value, only a small percentage of participants conveyed familiarity with the reporting process for both paper (19.2%) and electronic (30.4%) forms, indeed 56.6% of participants did not remember what the ADR report form looked like. Moreover, 75.4% of respondents said they felt that community pharmacies are not the right place for reporting, with 49% suggesting that reporting was the responsibility of physicians. However, only 32.1% reported having insufficient time being a barrier to ADR reporting. Conclusions: Community pharmacists in Egypt are not well prepared for spontaneous ADR reporting due to a lack of knowledge about the formal process and not acknowledging their responsibility, although time was not a major barrier. Therefore, this highlights a clear opportunity for improvement likely involving targeted education.

Citation

Bahlol, M., Bushell, M., Khojah, H. M., & Dewey, R. S. (2022). Spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting by community pharmacists: preparedness and barriers. Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 30(7), 1052-1059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2022.04.006

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 12, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Apr 19, 2022
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Aug 23, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 23, 2022
• Journal: Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal
• Print ISSN: 1319-0164
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 1052-1059
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2022.04.006
• Keywords: Drug-related side effects and adverse reactions, Egypt, Surveys and questionnaires, Pharmacies
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/10071557
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319016422001128?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting by community pharmacists: preparedness and barriers; Journal Title: Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2022.04.006; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.