OBJECTIVES: Continuous audit of patients’ response to pharmacotherapy is vital to optimal care. Good knowledge of pharmacovigilance by healthcare workers is essential for audit trail in medication therapy management and patient care. This study assessed healthcare workers knowledge of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) monitoring to generate information for interventions and policy.

METHODS: The study was a cross sectional retrospective survey of pharmacists, doctors, nurses, and medical laboratory scientists using structured and validated questionnaire. A total of 160 respondents from two randomly selected tertiary hospitals who gave their informed consent and have worked in the hospitals for more than 12 months participated in the survey. The study lasted from February 2017 to October 2017.Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-Square, and students T- test. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered significant.

RESULTS: Majority of respondents seemed to understood the concept of ADRs 105.0 (65.6%), (P=0.152) while 92.0 (57.3%) understood the meaning of pharmacovigilance (P= 0.087). However, they do not know the risk factors for ADRs 156.0 (87.5%), (P=0.725). Few respondents understood the manifestations of Type A, ADRs 8.0 (5.0%), p=0.001. Only 38.0 (28.8%) to having received training on ADRs (P=0.006).

CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the healthcare workers showed knowledge of ADRs. However, they lacked good knowledge of its fundamental principles, process, application and importance in patients care. Majority of them have not received adequate training on ADRs monitoring.