Differences in awareness and practice of adverse event reporting among doctors, nurses, pharmacists and post-basic pharmacist assistants in HIV clinical practice in the eThekwini Metropolitan Health district, South Africa
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Abstract
Abstract
Voluntary reporting of adverse events associated with antiretroviral therapy by biomedical healthcare providers to health authorities is an important part of public health not only for quality of care, but also for efficacy and safety of treatment for patients. This study aimed to determine prevalence of awareness and practice of voluntary adverse events reporting among biomedical healthcare providers in public health sector antiretroviral programmes.
A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among healthcare providers in public health sector antiretroviral programmes in eThekwini health district, South Africa. Participants consisted of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and post basic pharmacist assistants in HIV clinical practice. Awareness of voluntary reporting was relatively high at 88.0%, 75.9%, 81.6% and 87.5% amongst doctors, nurses, pharmacists and post basic pharmacist assistants respectively, with no significant difference across the groups (p-value=0.888). Rates of estimated reported adverse events per 100 patients complaining of such effects, in the previous 3 months, were 8.7%, 5.1%, 7.4% and 1.6% amongst doctors, nurses, pharmacists and post basic pharmacist assistants, respectively (p-value<0.001). The most common channels for adverse event reporting included: filling the provincial adverse event reporting form; sending the filled reporting form to the institutional pharmacy or to the pharmaceutical policy and system development at the provincial head office.
Future research may investigate barriers and facilitators on uniformity in the reporting process at the healthcare facility level, with emphasis on roles and involvement of nurses and post basic pharmacist assistants in pharmacovigilance activities in the light of new task-shifting at the primary health care platform.