A survey on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of physicians towards pharmacovigilance in Jordanian health centres

Background: Knowledge, attitudes and practices of health care professionals towards pharmacovigilance are strongly associated with reporting adverse drug reactions, as proven by a number of studies. This study aims to evaluate the levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices towards pharmacovigilance among physicians working at health centres of the Jordanian Ministry of Health. Methods: This took the form of a cross-sectional survey. Questionnaires were distributed by the researcher and research assistant to the physicians. Twenty primary and comprehensive health centres were covered. Results: The study included 106 physicians. Poor knowledge and practices were observed (mean knowledge score of 1.5 +/- 1.2 out of five, and mean practice score of 5.5 +/- 1.8 out of 15), while a high level of positive attitudes was observed (mean attitude score of 9.3 +/- 1.3 out of 10). Half of the physicians were aware that monitoring adverse drug reactions in Jordan is carried out by the Jordan Pharmacovigilance Centre. The majority of physicians (95.2%) mentioned that they rarely or never used the adverse drug reactions reporting form in Jordan. Conclusions: It is clear that there is a need to initiate educational activities and intervention programmes to raise the awareness of health care providers in Jordan regarding pharmacovigilance.