The Nigerian Journal of Pharmacy

Abstract

Abstract Background: World Health Organization pharmacovigilance core indicators have been recommended as a useful tool towards improving pharmacovigilance activities. Following the limited information on adverse reactions reporting in some institutions, the study assessed the status of pharmacovigilance in tertiary and secondary hospital facilities in Osun State, Nigeria with a view towards improving the pharmacovigilance system. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted in the two tertiary hospitals and eight state hospitals in Osun State. The data was assessed using modified WHO core pharmacovigilance indicators Results: Characteristics of the health facilities included the number of hospital beds; Tertiary 920(70.67%), Secondary 346(29.33%); Hospital workers, Doctors 1044(41.45%), Nurses 1395(55.38%), Pharmacists 80(3.18%) and Number of Out-patients 300915(95.49%)/ In-patients 14199(4.51%).All facilities had a pharmacovigilance focal person responsible for pharmacovigilance activities. None of the facilities had a financial provision for pharmacovigilance activities. All the centers had standard adverse drug reactions reporting form. On Core Processing Indicators (CPI) the absolute value of ADR reports received in ten hospitals in the previous year ranged from 0 to 17. The total reports in the local database ranged from 2 to 76. There were no adequate data to assess other parameters in the center. On Core Outcome/Impact Indicators (CO/II), the number of medicine-related hospital admissions per 1000 admissions ranged from 0.45 to 2.02 and there were no documentations from medical records/registers in the various hospitals of medicine related deaths. Information on other pertinent data was inadequate in making computation of other outcome indicators in the health facilities. Conclusion: Pharmacovigilance activities were observed to be lacking in most of the health facilities. Factors such as poor funding, lack of documentation were prominent. It is therefore recommended that concerted effort should be made to strengthen the practice in all units of healthcare delivery.