Background: 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.