BACKGROUND: Pharmacovigilance (PV) is an essential component of patient safety and pharmacists are expected to be aware of the PV processes and willing to report ADRs. This study assessed the hospital pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, and practice toward PV, barriers faced by them in ADR reporting, and factors influencing ADR reporting.
METHOD: A cross-sectional nationwide questionnaire survey was conducted among randomly chosen hospital pharmacists across UAE from March to July 2022. The filled questionnaires were assessed both descriptively [median (IQR scores), maximum 5 for Likert type and 1 for knowledge questions] and inferentially using the Mann-Whitney U test (for dichotomous variables) and the Kruskal-Wallis test (for variables with more than two responses) at alpha value = 0.05. Post hoc analyses and correlations were performed wherever applicable.
RESULTS: Of the 342 respondents, the majority were knowledgeable about the concepts of PV (93.3%; n = 319) and ADRs (86.8%; n = 297). The overall median (IQR) knowledge score was 5 (3-7)/9. Knowledge levels within 'qualification groups' varied significantly (p-value
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.