Lecturer Lagos State University College of Medicine Ikeja, Nigeria
Background: Nurses are privileged to spend more time with patients compared to other healthcare professionals; therefore, much is expected of them to report adverse drug reactions (ADRs).
Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge of ADRs and the views on reporting among Nigerian nurses.
Methods: A questionnaire, modified from previous ADR studies, was distributed to Nurses working in seven different teaching hospitals in four major regions of Nigeria to fill. We obtained information on their demographics, knowledge of ADR reporting, attitudes to reporting ADRs, factors they perceived to influence ADRs reporting, and levels of education and training on reporting ADRs.
Results: A total of 1836 nurses, predominantly females (1658; 90.5%), median age 39.0 (31.0- 46.0) years, participated in the study. Few nurses were aware of ADRs reporting procedures (920; 50.1%) and existence of a National Pharmacovigilance Center in Nigeria (1088; 59.3%). Over half (1122; 61.1%) of the nurses had ever observed at least an ADR. Only 748 (40.7%) had ever reported an ADR, of which 524 (70.1%) reports were made occasionally and verbally (394; 52.7%) to the unit heads (174; 23.4%) and the overall head of nursing (158; 21.2%). Only 266 (14.5%) felt ADRs reporting had impacted their nursing practice. Most nurses believed ADRs reporting was obligatory (1433; 78.1%), but a few believed that a single ADR reporting made no difference (335; 17.7%). A few nurses were unclear about what to report (544; 29.6%), and yellow card was too complex to understand to fill (210; 11.4%).
Conclusions: Nigerian nurses are helpful in ADR reporting but needs more training on pharmacovigilance.
