Survey of Nurses’ Roles and Attitudes towards Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring and Reporting

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction: Nurses are health professionals who contact with patients directly. They often detect and notify ADRs in routine practice. Therefore, their roles in ADR monitoring and reporting were determined in this study. Objectives: Aims of the study were to survey nurses’ roles and attitudes towards adverse drug reaction (ADR) monitoring and reporting and to assess factors affecting their activities on ADRs. Method: A descriptive survey study was conducted by sending postal questionnaires to nurses working in medicine departments of the Northeast government hospitals and medical schools during July  – August  2012.  The second reminders were sent if no responses were received within 3 weeks. The questionnaires composed of demographic data, working process for monitoring and reporting ADRs, reasons for reporting or not reporting and their attitudes towards ADR reporting. Results: A total of 634 questionnaires were sent out in this study. The response rate was 69.40% (440 questionnaires) but 436 questionnaires (68.77%) were valid. Most of the respondents were female (98.2%), with the average age of 35.8±8.64 years. Thirty two percent of the nurses worked in community hospitals and 94.3% graduated  bachelor’s degree as their highest education. It was found that 356 nurses (81.6%) had ever detected ADRs but  40.3% reported ADRs to responsible doctors. Nurses reported that they frequently monitored ADRs with other health  professionals (26.2%).  Most of them reported ADRs to pharmacy division of the hospitals (77.2%). The major reasons for not-reporting of ADRs included uncertainty whether adverse reactions were caused by the suspected drugs (34.8%) and lack of knownledge in ADR definition (17.4%). Most of the nurses agreed that ADR monitoring and reporting system in the hospitals were important. Factors affecting their ADR reporting were age (p=0.000), working experience (p=0.000) and those affecting ADR monitoring was time for taking care of patients (p=0.0025). Conclusion: Nurses actively participated in adverse drug reaction monitoring and reporting with good attitudes. However, some barriers impede their roles in ADR monitoring and reporting including lack of knowledge and information for ADR assessment. Therefore, certain strategies are needed to improve their skills and knowledge on ADR activities.