Cross-sectional study exploring barriers to adverse drug reactions reporting in community pharmacy settings in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Objectives: To assess community pharmacists'/pharmacy technicians' knowledge and perceptions about adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and barriers towards the reporting of such reactions in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Method: A cross-sectional study was planned to approach potential respondents for the study. A self-administered questionnaire was delivered to community pharmacists/pharmacy technicians (n = 292) practising in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Results: The overall response to the survey was 69.5% (n = 203). The majority of the sample was comprised of pharmacy technicians (152, 74.9%) who possessed a diploma in pharmacy, followed by pharmacists (37, 18.2%) and others (12, 5.9%). Overall, 72 (35.5%) of the respondents disclosed that they had experienced an ADR at their pharmacy, yet more than half (105, 51.7%) were not familiar with the existence of an ADR reporting body in Bangladesh. Exploring the barriers to the reporting of ADRs, it was revealed that the top four barriers to ADR reporting were ‘I do not know how to report (Relative Importance Index (RII) = 0.998)’, ‘reporting forms are not available (0.996)’, ‘I am not motivated to report (0.997)’ and ‘Unavailability of professional environment to discuss about ADR (RII = 0.939)’. In addition to these, a majority (141, 69.46%) were not confident about the classification of ADRs (RII = 0.889) and were afraid of legal liabilities associated with reporting ADRs (RII = 0.806). Moreover, a lack of knowledge about pharmacotherapy and the detection of ADRs was another major factor hindering their reporting (RII = 0.731).

Conclusions: The Directorate of Drug Administration in Bangladesh needs to consider the results of this study to help it improve and simplify ADR reporting in Bangladeshi community pharmacy settings.