Abstract

Background: Pharmacovigilance is “The science and activities which are related to the detection, assessment, understanding and the prevention of adverse effects or any other drug related problems[1] ”. This study assessed awareness, knowledge and methods of application of pharmacovigilance among medical professionals. Materials and Methods: A total of 250 students were participated in the study, comprising of postgraduates and Internees. The study Instrument was a pre designed Questionaire which consists of 25 questions related to basic awareness, student’s knowledge and methods of application about pharmacovigilance The questionaire was analyzed question wise and their percentage value was calculated and their responses were documented. Results: The study showed that after analyzing the questionnaire 47.5% of internees , 51.1% of P.G students were aware of pharmacovigilance and it is mandatory to have pharmacovigilance center in every medical college. Only 15% of internees and 23.3% P.G students are aware about exact meaning of pharmacovigilance. knowledge percentage of internees and pgs about pharmacovigilance programe is 11% &14.6% respectively with a p value of 0.421. Only 39.3% of internees, 41.3% of PGs only knows the different methodologies employed to assess causality of adverse effects. Conclusion: The results of our study shows that there is great need to conduct pharmacovigilance programme to promote the reporting of ADR and to improve the knowledge about the process of ADR reporting system.