IMPACT OF EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION ON THE KNOWLEDGE OF PHARMACOVIGILANCE AMONG PHARMACY STUDENTS IN MAHARASHTRA, INDIA.

Aim: To assess the level of knowledge of Pharmacovigilance among pharmacy students and subsequent change in the knowledge after education intervention. Methodology:This was across-sectional, interventional and questionnaire based study designed to assess the knowledge of Pharmacovigilance among pharmacy students before and after the educational intervention. The intervention involved four activities: 1) Pre-assessment test 2) 3 interactive sessions, 3) a workshop on filling the Spontaneous ADR reporting form and demonstration on WHO and Naranjo causality assessment scale, 4) postassessment test. The impact of educational intervention on the knowledge of pharmacovigilance was analyzed using Unpaired Student t test. Result:Total 202 pharmacy students were participated in the study. In which 92 were male and 110 were females. Out of 202, 83 students were pursuing Pharm D, 65 were pursuing B pharm and 54 were pursuing M pharm. It was found that after the post-assessment test the knowledge was increased up to 75.30% and knowledge gained was about 41.50%.after educational intervention. Conclusion: The results of the present study shows that an educational intervention can increase awareness about pharmacovigilance among the future health care professionals and can practise this gained knowledge for reporting of spontaneous ADRs to the international database from the perspective of improving global health safety. Key words: Pharmacovigilance, educational intervention, ADR, WH