Abstract:

Background: Under-reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is a still a common problem in many countries despite the fact that ADRs pose major threats to people and the health care system as a whole. Increased morbidity and length of hospital stay, increased treatment cost and even death can all be associated with ADRs. Under reporting of ARDs is significantly associated with lack of enough knowledge among health care providers on the existence and operation of the ADRs reporting system. Few studies in Tanzania have shown that health care providers in community pharmacies have a very limited knowledge on ADR reporting.

Study objectives: To assess knowledge, attitude and practice adverse drug reactions among health care providers of community pharmacies in Mwanza city.

Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study involving 180 health care providers is retail community pharmacies and accredited drug dispensing outlet (ADDO) shops in Mwanza city was conducted. Data was entered and analysed in SPSS version 20. Knowledge to ADR reporting was determined using a knowledge score while a likert scale was used to determine the attitude of respondents towards ADR reporting.

Results: The study showed that 52.5% and 40.7% of reporting in pharmacies and ADDO shops respectively had good knowledge regarding ADR reporting. There was significant relationship between knowledge on ADR reporting and CPE attendance, gender, level of education and dispensing experience of the respondents (P value <0.05). About 85.5% of respondents had positive attitude towards ADR reporting. However practice of ADR reporting was very low. Only 3.3% of respondents had ever reported an ADR to relevant authorities.

Conclusion: Despite the very positive attitude toward ADR reporting, there is still poor knowledge and practice on ADR reporting health care providers in community pharmacies and ADDO shops in Mwanza city.