Knowledge, Practices and Attitudes Towards Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting by Private Practitioners from Klang Valley in Malaysia

Objectives: The study aimed to determine current status of knowledge, practices, and attitudes towards adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting among private practitioners in Klang region of Malaysia.
Methods: A total of 238 private practitioners in Klang valley were distributed a questionnaire consisting of seven questions, two knowledge-related, two practice-related and three attitude-related. Each favourable and unfavourable response was given a score of 1 and 0 respectively. Total score of 70% or more for each domain was considered “satisfactory” whereas less than 70% as “unsatisfactory”.
Results: One hundred forty-five participants completed questionnaire. Knowledge assessment showed 83.4% responses stating that ADR reporting helps to identify safe drugs and 91.7% responded that it measures ADR incidence. Regarding practices, 76.6% respondents were willing to report only if confident that reaction is an ADR. Regarding attitudes, 81.9%, 66.9% and 23.5% participants showed complacency, ignorance, and indifference respectively. Unsatisfactory knowledge, practices, and attitudes were observed in 57.2%, 56.6%, and 73.1% respondents respectively. Satisfactory knowledge was significantly higher in respondent with higher qualification with odds ratio of 2.96 with 95% confidence interval of 1.48–5.93.
Conclusion: The study showed unsatisfactory level of knowledge, practices, and attitudes towards ADR reporting among high proportion of private practitioners in Klang valley, Malaysia.

Keywords
adverse drug reaction reporting systems, attitudes, knowledge, pharmacovigilance, practice