Abstract
Introduction
Pharmacovigilance ensures promotion and protection of health of individuals through prevention of harms caused by medicines by prompt collection, collation and reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADR).
Methodology
The study took place at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria. The study design was a mix design, with the first part involving review of records of the Pharmacovigilance Unit of the Hospital and the second part being a cross sectional survey of health workers using a structured questionnaire. A review of activities of the Pharmacovigilance unit of the hospital in the last two years was done through the review of the records for the reported cases of adverse drug reactions and categories of health workers who made the reports. Questionnaires were also given out to health workers to fill to assess their perception of the activities of the pharmacovigilance unit as well as their practices in reporting ADR.
Results
A total of 11 reports were made as at the end of November for the year 2017 and 31 reports made in 2016, giving a total of 42 reports in two years. Doctors were responsible for 18 of the reports, Pharmacists 12, Nurses 8 and other categories of health workers made 4 reports. Survey of 100 health practitioners included 50 nurses, 30 medical doctors, 10 pharmacists and 10 other health workers. 70% of the respondents agreed that ADR is commonly seen is their daily practice, 50% were aware of the existence of pharmacovigilance unit in the hospital and 40% said that they have ever made report of ADR. Reasons for not reporting by respondents were as follows; 47% said they were not aware there is a pharmacovigilance unit in the hospital, 12% said it was not their responsibility to report, 15% said they thought the ADR they observed were not reportable, and 26% said that they have never witnessed any ADR in their practice.
Conclusion
There is a need to increase the awareness of the pharmacovigilance activities within the hospital and also to educate health care practitioners on which ADRs are reportable.
