Assessment of knowledge and attitude of adverse drug reactions among healthcare professionals in Bangladesh

Adverse drug reactions have increased significantly in people as many new drugs have come to the market in the last two decades. This has not only economic consequences but also causes morbidity and mortality. In Bangladesh, some incidents happened related to drug problems and it took several lives. Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions can primarily control this situation and healthcare professionals can play an immeasurable role. Therefore, this study was aimed to be conducted at seven different hospitals and diagnostic centers to find out the actual scenario of adverse drug reactions among the healthcare professionals in Bangladesh to make them aware of adverse drug reactions and the reporting system, and to know about their opinion towards adverse drug reactions. However, after evaluation of the questionnaires it was found that a large number of healthcare professionals were not aware of adverse drug reactions and pharmacovigilance, especially the nurses. It was found that 13.3% of nurses did not know about adverse drug reactions and 93.3% of them had not reported any reactions. Furthermore, many healthcare professionals did not show a positive attitude towards pharmacovigilance. If proper pharmacovigilance practice cannot be started, the nation will face serious economic and health-related problems.