The knowledge, perceptions and practice of pharmacovigilance amongst community pharmacists in Lagos state, south west Nigeria

Purpose Community Pharmacists both have an important responsibility in monitoring the ongoing safety of medicines and are widely accessible to do it. This study aims to investigate the knowledge, perceptions and practice of Pharmacovigilance amongst community pharmacists in Lagos State, South West Nigeria Methods A cross-sectional observational survey was used in this study. A multistage random sampling technique was employed in the selection of 420 community pharmacies in Lagos. Results About 55% of respondents have ever heard of the word 'Pharmacovigilance' out of which less than half (representing only 18% of all respondents) could define the term 'Pharmacovigilance'. Forty percent of the respondents stated that patients reported ADRs to them at least once a month, and 20% reported to the relevant authorities. However only 3% of respondents actually reported an ADR to the National Pharmacovigilance Centre. The most important reason for poor reporting was lack of knowledge about how to report ADRs (44.6%). Meanwhile, 90% of respondents believed that the role of the pharmacists in ADR reporting was important. Most community pharmacists were willing to practice pharmacovigilance if they were trained. Conclusion Community pharmacists in Lagos had poor knowledge about pharmacovigilance. Reporting rate was also poor. There is an urgent need for educational programs to train pharmacists about pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.