2018 Volume 44 Issue 7 Pages 370-379
We investigated the current situation of pharmacists' recognition of and countermeasures they take against adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in order to elucidate related factors. We administered a web-based questionnaire to pharmacists who work at community pharmacies. The factors included in the questionnaire were basic information, recognition of and countermeasures against ADRs (the frequency of ADR recognition, investigation medium, the recognition of and countermeasures against ADRs and reasons for those). There were 29 questions about ADR education in total. In this study, we focused on the frequency of ADR recognition and countermeasures taken against ADRs, and examined their current status and related factors. As a result, after performing multivariable logistic regression analysis, we found that the group of pharmacists who made prescription inquiries about patients had an association with the investigation medium they used and are likely to investigate actively. Our results suggest the possibility that many pharmacists differed in their knowledge about the onset and recognition of ADRs. Moreover, our results found situations where prescription inquiries were actively made, but ADRs were not adequately reported. In conclusion, pharmacists who make prescription inquiries are likely to investigate and actively use information media, and this suggests the necessity of selecting the appropriate information medium and critically examining information. However, since those who answered our survey were biased towards the young, it is necessary to consider the possibility that this influenced the results.
