Knowledge and attitude of pharmacy students about pharmacovigilance in Semarang, Indonesia

Abstract

To assure pharmacovigilance must be applicable in the future, knowledge and attitude of pharmacy students have to be examine. Therefore, the study objective was to correlate the knowledge and attitude toward pharmacovigilance of pharmacy students in Semarang, Indonesia.A cross sectional study was carried out using valid and reliable questionnaire. The questionnaire was design to asses knowledge and attitude regarding pharmacovigilance. Pharmacy students of undergraduate program and pharmacist students of Profession Program studying in STIFAR, Wahid Hasyim University and Sultan Agung Islamic University during the study period were included. The data was analyzed by Chi square test to identified the correlation between the knowledge and attitude.Three hundred and twelve pharmacy students {219(70,19%) undergraduate program and 93 (29,8%) pharmacist profession program} participated. Among pharmacy students, 51% (n=158) had good level of knowledge and attitude toward pharmacovigilance. We found significant correlation between knowledge and attitude pharmacy student regarding pharmacovigilance (p=0,000). There is correlation between the knowledge and attitude related to pharmacovigilance in pharmacy students. Developing a right attitude towards pharmacovigilance may be a key determinant to improving their practice in the future.