Bridging the Gap: Promoting Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting through Innovative Strategies in Zero-reporting Zones at Karaikal – An Educational Intervention Study at Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center

Objective: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) contribute to morbidity, mortality, compromised quality of life, and increased healthcare costs. Despite various efforts by the regulatory authorities, there remains a problem of underreporting. Our ADR monitoring center was established in JIPMER, Karaikal, and there were nil reports from the nearest hospitals in this geographical area before 2 years. The reasons are lack of knowledge, time constraints, etc., and to overcome the challenge of underreporting, we planned a study to identify the effect of an educational intervention program on ADR reporting by healthcare professionals. Methods: A total number of 200 participants were involved in the program, which included various components such as game activities, video, poster, meme contest, hands-on training, and lectures, followed by practice-based learning. The participants filled out a pretest questionnaire before attending the program. A posttest questionnaire was filled out after 1 month. Findings: There was a significant improvement in the knowledge before and after the intervention ( P < 0.0001). More than 50% believed that there would be legal consequences of ADR reporting, and very few people (12%) had reported ADR to their seniors through telephone. The study also increased the spontaneous ADR reporting in a period of 1 year. Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest that the active educational intervention has a major impact on ADR reporting, yet it requires multiple reminders, through telephone, messages help in a consistent ADR reporting culture among the healthcare professionals.