Pharmacists’ Attitudes towards Reporting Adverse Drug Events in the United Kingdom

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To determine the likelihood of pharmacists in England of reporting adverse drug reactions (ADR), whether they are aware of the reporting processes, and what they believe the reasons for not reporting may be. METHODS: A survey containing five different scenarios of ADRs was distributed to licensed, community pharmacists around Surrey, England. The responses were analyzed using rates and chi-square. RESULTS: A total of 47 surveys were returned to the researcher. Of those, 72% of the participants were likely to report the adverse drug reaction in the scenarios provided. In addition, 87.5% of the pharmacists were familiar with the reporting procedures in place in the United Kingdom. A total of 51.9% were not able to distinguish between a major and minor adverse reaction. Finally, with a X2 value of 0.070, there was not a significant difference between males and females and the likelihood of reporting these errors (p=0.79). Similarly, there was no significant difference between the likelihood of reporting an event involving a pediatric patient vs. an adult patient with a X2 value of 0.275 (p=0.599). CONCLUSIONS: Most pharmacists were aware of the procedures involved in reporting ADRs in the United Kingdom and were likely to report these ADRs. Additionally, the most common reason predicted for not reporting was due to the lack of time pharmacists have to report these events. Regardless of gender, male and female pharmacists were equally likely to report ADRs.