The role of sensitisation on clinicians and nursing staff in adverse drug reaction reporting in a newly established medical college

Objective: The PvPI (Pharmacovigilance program of India) expects medical colleges to be part of ADR (Adverse Drug Reaction) reporting. However a newly established medical college with limited infrastructure and human resources faces several challenges. The aim of this study was to look for solutions in such a facility and impact of regular sensitization.
Material and methods: We undertook a study from Dec 2017 to June 2108 on the impact of Group sensitization programme like seminars, one to one sensitization of clinicians and nursing staff by the faculty of Department of Pharmacology against conventional methods like office notification, ADR collection boxes, posters on the ADR reporting. The ADRs were collected using (Indian Pharmacopiea Commission) IPC-PvPI ADR monitoring form, causality was assessed using WHO-UMC criteria and categorized as per type of ADR and reporting department.
Results: The total ADRs reported pre and post sensitization were 36 and 77 respectively for a period of three months each. There was significant improvement in the reporting of ADRs both qualitatively and quantitatively post sensitization.
Conclusion: It was deduced that even a newly established medical college with meagre facilities can show improvement in ADR reporting by implementing a well designed sensitization programme.