Study of awareness of pharmacists about their work in the pharmacovigilance system in Ukraine and their professional activity

• Main Authors: O. Ya. Mishchenko, V. F. Ostashko, E. N. Kovalenko
• Format: Article
• Language: Ukrainian
• Published: The State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine 2018-09-01
• Series: Фармацевтичний журнал
• Subjects: pharmacist; pharmacovigilance (PhV); adverse reactions (ARs) of drugs
• Online Access: https://pharmj.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/1/1

The role of the pharmacists in providing information on cases of adverse reactions (ARs) and/or lack of effectiveness of drugs in the Pharmacovigilance (PhV) Department of Ukraine is very important. Objective: Assessment of the level of pharmacists' awareness about regulatory documents (RDs) regulating their duties to provide information about ARs and/or lack of effectiveness of drugs and their activity in this area. The questionnaire for pharmacists was developed and used, the first seven questions of which were aimed at identifying pharmacists' awareness of their duties to provide information to the Department of PhV at the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine about ARs and/or lack of effectiveness of drugs and their activity in filling the «Cards-message». Questioning of 70 pharmacists with different work experience (WE): 1‒5 years (12%), 5‒10 years (31%) and 10‒25 years (57%) was conducted. 50% of pharmacists with 1‒5 years WE, 64% of pharmacists with 5‒10 years WE and 75% of pharmacists with 10‒25 years WE know about obligation to provide information about ARs and/or lack of effectiveness of drugs. Only 9% of pharmacists with 5‒10 years WE independently filled and sent the «Card-message» to the department of PhV, in most cases pharmacists give the filled form to the head of the pharmacy. Regardless of WE duration, the majority of pharmacists are aware the information about their responsibilities to provide reports about ARs and/or lack of drugs efficacy in the department of PhV and know the RDs that regulates this process. The inadequate activity of pharmacy workers to provide information about ARs and/or lack of effectiveness of drugs can be largely due to the low organization of this process at the pharmacy level and the conservatism of pharmacists with longer WE. It is advisable to increase the effectiveness of detection of ARs and/or lack of effectiveness of drugs due to activity of pharmacists in the conditions of pharmacy in Ukraine. Such professional activity of pharmacists helps to improve the quality of pharmaceutical care to the population of Ukraine.