NEWPORT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES (NIJSES)

Volume 3 Issue 3 2023

Evaluation of the Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting Systems in Hospitals and Health Centers IV and III in Bushenyi District.

Otim Samuel Johnson

Faculty of Clinical Medicine and Dentistry Kampala International University Western Campus Uganda.

ABSTRACT

Currently, adverse drug reactions are the 6th global leading cause of death. In sub-Saharan Africa, 6.3% of hospital admissions are a direct result of adverse drug reactions. The aim of this study was to evaluate adverse drug reaction reporting systems in hospitals and health centers IV and III in the Bushenyi district, Uganda. This study employed a cross-sectional study among 225 health professionals including pharmacists, intern pharmacists, nurses, midwives, intern nurses, doctors, intern doctors, and then the clinical officers. Data was collected with the help of questionnaires entered into SPSS version 25 for analysis. The analyzed information was presented in the form of tables and graphs. A great number of 80 (35.6%) were from Kampala International University Teaching Hospital, the majority 132(58.7%) were aged 26-45 years, many 121(53.8%) were females and 104 (45.3%) were males. The majority 98(43.6%) were certificate holders and 117 (52.0%) were adverse drug reaction nurses. The majority 164 (72.9%) of the health facilities had adverse drug reaction reporting systems and 50(22.2%) said they didn’t have. 160 (71.1%) respondents had ever detected drug adverse reactions. Of these 133(83.1%) reported these reactions and 27(19.9%) didn’t report the adverse drug reaction. Most 95(59.4%) of the adverse drug reaction cases are reported to doctors, 30(18.6%) were reported to pharmacists and lastly 3(2.3%) were reported to the National drug authority (NDA). According to the study, the adverse drug reaction reporting system was in existence with adverse drug reaction reporting forms being the commonest adverse drug reaction reporting tool. Health workers who had heard about adverse drug reactions were 12 times more likely to report adverse drug reaction reactions compared to their counterparts. In addition, the lowest rate of reporting adverse drug reactions was seen at Ishaka Adventist Hospital and Comboni Hospital. Most of the health workers had ever detected adverse drug reactions and 83.1% of them reported adverse drug reactions but to the wrong authorities (doctors and pharmacists) using majorly phone calls. Therefore, NDA, Pharmacovigilance Center, pharmacovigilance coordinators at regional hospitals, and online platforms were not properly utilized.

Keywords: Adverse drug reactions, Health centers, Health professionals, Pharmacists, Pharmacovigilance.

INTRODUCTION

An adverse drug reaction (ADR) is an unintended and undesired response to a drug at the normally required doses in human beings for prophylaxis, diagnosis, or therapy of disease or for the modification of physiological function [1-3]. Adverse drug reaction results in increased morbidity, mortality, and hospital and health centers admission which affects the economy and health care systems [4, 5]. Severe adverse drug reactions have made some patients resort to the use of herbal alternatives due to mild adverse effects [6-8]. In most cases, discomforts associated with ADR do compel patients to discontinue medications and hospital check-ups [9-11]. Thus, healthcare professionals should consider ADR reporting as their professional duty to protect patients from the adverse effects of medications [12]. The 16th World Health Assembly accepted the resolution that confirmed the need for early detection and rapid dissemination of information on ADRs due to medicines and hence led to the creation of the WHO Program for international drug monitoring. Pharmacovigilance (PV) is a system of activities that relates to the detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of ADRs and other drug-related problems [13]. The aims of ADR reporting systems are to improve patient care and safety in relation to the use of medicines. To support public health programs by providing information about effective assessment of the risk-benefit profile of medicine [14, 15]. Reporting in Uganda relies heavily on spontaneous reporting whereby the reports are voluntarily done, forms filled in, and submitted by the health professionals, pharmaceutical companies, patients, and any member of the public to the national drug authority pharmacovigilance Center. Suspected ADRs to any therapeutic agent should be reported, including drugs, blood products, vaccines, complementary herbal products, and radiological contrast media Currently, adverse drug reactions are the 6th global leading cause of death, in the sub-Saharan Africa 6.3% of hospital admissions are a direct result of adverse drug reactions [16-20]. In Uganda, 4.5% of admissions to the medical ward in Kabale regional referral hospital were suspected to be due to adverse drug reactions. 1.5% was the reason for hospitalization [20-25]. Spontaneous and voluntary reporting of suspected ADRs generates signals about rare, delayed, and unexpected drug reactions that are undetected in the initial phases of drug development. But underreporting is a major limitation. This low rate of ADR reporting undermines efforts to identify and estimate the magnitude of drug risk, confirmation of actionable issues, and possible regulatory action [17-25]. This study, therefore, evaluated the adverse drug reaction reporting systems in hospitals and health centers IV and III in the Bushenyi district to determine their existence, use, and effectiveness.

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CITE AS: Otim Samuel Johnson (2023). Evaluation of the Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting Systems in Hospitals and Health Centers IV and III in Bushenyi District. NEWPORT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES (NIJSES) 3(3):110-119.

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