Impact of pharmacovigilance training on knowledge, attitude, and practice among pharmacy students - A cross sectional study

Background: Underreporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) remains a major barrier to effective pharmacovigilance (PV) despite global and national efforts to strengthen medication-safety systems. Pharmacy students, as future healthcare professionals, require adequate training to develop the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) essential for competent ADR reporting. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of structured pharmacovigilance training on pre- and post-intervention KAP among Bachelor of Pharmacy students. Methods: cross-sectional interventional Pre- and Post-test questionnaire based study was conducted among 150 pharmacy students. A validated 15-item KAP questionnaire was administered before and after a structured two hours educational intervention consisting of an interactive lecture and hands-on ADR reporting demonstration. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: Mean knowledge scores increased from 3.61 ± 0.8 to 4.37 ± 0.6 (p < 0.001), and practice scores improved from 11.0 ± 2.9 to 17.6 ± 2.3 (p < 0.001). Attitude scores showed a modest, non-significant rise from 17.8 ± 1.8 to 18.2 ± 1.6 (p = 0.12). Overall KAP scores increased significantly from 32.4 ± 5.2 to 40.2 ± 4.8 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Incorporating systematic PV training into undergraduate curricula is essential to strengthen the future pharmacovigilance workforce and improve medication-safety practices.