Abstract
Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the factors influencing adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting among New Zealand's community and hospital pharmacists.
Methods: Two surveys were created for distinct practice settings, with the demographics section tailored to each setting while the core content remained consistent. The surveys included six sections: demographics, reporting practices, attitudes and behaviours towards reporting, barriers, facilitators to reporting, and future improvements. Sections 3-6 used Likert scale questions to measure agreement. Participants were identified from a list of registered pharmacists in New Zealand who had consented to participate in research during their practice license renewal, obtained from the Pharmacy Council. The surveys were emailed to 2762 pharmacists with a 23% (n = 632) response rate. The collected data underwent descriptive statistical analysis using SPSS® and inferential statistics were applied. Fisher's exact test determined relationships between responses and practice setting and Relative Importance Index (RII) quantified statement importance.
Key findings: The majority of the participants were female (74.8%), European (63%), and aged 31-40 years. Analysis revealed time as the main influence on ADR reporting. While both groups had positive attitudes towards reporting, they identified the time-consuming nature as the most significant barrier. Online reporting was identified as the most important facilitator. Of potential interventions, hospital pharmacists found having full access to patient information most important, whereas community pharmacists prioritized a built-in reporting tool.
Conclusions: Although pharmacists had positive attitudes towards ADR reporting, time constraints hindered reporting. To improve reporting practices, we recommend the implementation of a pharmacy patient management system and the ability to access full patient information.