[Hospital pharmacists' perception of pharmacovigilance in Quebec]

Objectives: To assess the pharmacovigilance perception of Quebec's hospital pharmacists.

Methods: Cross-sectional study. A questionnaire with 16 questions was developed in order to assess respondents' perception of their ability to practice pharmacovigilance, factors that can influence adverse drug reactions reporting and measures to increase reporting rate. The online questionnaire was sent to hospital pharmacist from Quebec in April 2014. The results were presented in the form of descriptive data.

Results: A total of 179/252 (71%) hospital pharmacists responded. More than 90% of respondents considered that they were able to practice all activities related to pharmacovigilance. During one year of practice, 98% of respondents faced at least one serious or unexpected adverse drug reaction and 77% notified at least one adverse drug reaction to Health Canada. The factors encouraging more than 89% of respondents to notify were: the severity, the rapidity of onset, the visibility of the reaction, the fact that the adverse drug reaction was unexpected or due to a recent marketed drug. More than 69% of respondents considered the overwork as the principal obstacle to the notification. The majority of respondents supported the implementation of 13/14 measures in order to increase reporting rate.

Conclusion: Hospital pharmacists from Quebec presented a favorable ability to practice pharmacovigilance. Analysis of their perception of pharmacovigilance helped to identify improvements, such as the implementation of a pharmacovigilance coordinator in the health center.