Pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting: a perspective of community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Sana’a, Yemen

TLDR

Pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting in Yemen’s community pharmacies is understudied, prompting a comparison of pharmacists’ and technicians’ knowledge, attitudes, and barriers. The authors conducted a cross‑sectional survey of 289 randomly selected community pharmacies in Sana'a, using a validated questionnaire administered to 179 pharmacists and technicians (41.8% response rate). Respondents were predominantly male technicians (88.3%) with a mean age of 25.9 years, and pharmacists scored significantly higher on pharmacovigilance knowledge than technicians.

Abstract

Pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting: a perspective of community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Sana'a, Yemen Yaser Mohammed Al-Worafi,1,2 Yaman Walid Kassab,3 Wafa Mohammed Alseragi,4 Masaad Saeed Almutairi,5 Ali Ahmed,6 Long Chiau Ming,7 Ali Saleh Alkhoshaiban,8,9 Muhammad Abdul Hadi10 1Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Science and Technology, Sana’a, Yemen; 2Clinical Pharmacy Department, College of Pharmacy, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; 3Hospital and Clinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, Selangor, Malaysia; 4Faculty of Arts, Ibb University, Ibb, Yemen; 5College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia; 6Unit for Medication Outcomes Research and Education (UMORE), Pharmacy, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; 7School of Pharmacy, KPJ Healthcare University College, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia; 8College of Medicine, Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia; 9Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia; 10Leicester School of Pharmacy, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the knowledge, attitude and barriers of pharmacy technicians and pharmacists toward pharmacovigilance, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and ADR reporting in community pharmacies in Yemen.Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the capital of Yemen, Sana’a. A total of 289 community pharmacies were randomly selected. The validated and pilot-tested questionnaire consisted of six sections: demographic data, knowledge about pharmacovigilance, experience with ADR reporting, attitudes toward ADR reporting, and the facilitators to improve ADR reporting.Results: A total of 428 pharmacy technicians and pharmacists were contacted and 179 went on to complete a questionnaire (response rate: 41.8%). Of the 179 respondents, 21 (11.7%) were pharmacists and 158 (88.3%) were pharmacy technicians, of which, 176 (98.3%) were male and 3 (1.7%) were female. The mean age of the respondents was 25.87±2.63 years. There was a significant difference between the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in terms of knowledge scores (P