Impact of educational intervention and reinforcement on adverse drug reporting by nursing students: A prospective follow up study

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the improvement in knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards the reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) with an educational intervention and the practice of ADR reporting with repeated reinforcement. Methodology: This prospective follow-up study included nursing students in B.Sc. final year attending clinical postings in a tertiary care teaching hospital which is a regional ADR monitoring center. The validated predesigned KAP questionnaire was used to assess the participants pre and post educational session. After the session, students were randomly distributed in to two equal groups (26 each) by computer generated random sequence – Group A (Reinforcement group) and Group B (Control group). Group A was followed up every week till completion of their clinical posting of two months and students were reminded to report adverse event whereas the other group (Group B) was not followed up. The number of adverse drug reports received from the nursing students were recorded during the study period. Results: A total of 52 nursing student participated in the study. There was significant improvement in the knowledge and attitude in the study participants after the educational intervention. There was a significant increase in ADR reporting in post educational session group. (Nil vs 15%, P value < 0.005) and strikingly all the adverse reports were submitted by the reinforcement group. Conclusion: Although educational intervention develops the knowledge about pharmacovigilance, but continuous follow up and reinforcement has more impact on the practice of ADR reporting.