Skip to content

Educational Intervention in Pharmacovigilance for Hospital Health Professionals

Implementation of a Hospital Pharmacovigilance Service and Comparison of Algorithms for Adverse Drug Reaction Causality Assessment

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02134587
Acronym
EIPhv
Enrollment
203
Registered
2014-05-09
Start date
2012-02-29
Completion date
2014-05-31
Last updated
2023-06-05

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Adverse Drug Reaction

Keywords

Health knowledge, attitudes, practices., Adverse drug reaction reporting systems., Pharmacovigilance. Product Surveillance, Postmarketing., Drug-related side effects and adverse reactions.

Brief summary

Spontaneous reports by health professionals generate the signals in pharmacovigilance. However, the passive method has limitations and the most important of them are the underreporting and the poor quality of data, hindering the causality assessment of adverse drug events (ADE). Therefore, the present study aimed to validate an educational intervention (EI) in pharmacovigilance for hospital health professionals, in order to analyze the impact on the knowledge, skill and attitude in ADE reporting. Investigators proposed a multifaceted EI which will be developed in four meetings with one hour each. The following activities will be carried out: application of a questionnaire to assess the knowledge, skill and attitude before and after EI; lecture; practical class and education material distribution. The answers of questionnaire are going to be analyzed using content analysis technique. The definitions of World Health Organization and the minimum and desired criteria to fill the ADE form, according to the Pan American Health Organization, are going to be considered gold-standard answers. The statistical test of Wilcoxon-Mann Whitney test for paired samples will be applied, in order to assess the impact of educational intervention on behavior of health professionals (ADE reporting). With the present study, the following hypotheses will be tested: H0= There is no difference between the numbers of ADE reported (behavior/attitudes) before and after the educational intervention. H1= The numbers of ADE reported before and after the educational intervention are different.

Detailed description

A quasi-experimental study with health professionals who acted in a general and public hospital of medium complexity with 104 beds will be performed. Investigators proposed an educational intervention, with the development of lecture and practical class, application of questionnaire before and after EI and the distribution of educational material. Activities will be developed in four meetings of one hour each one. In the first meeting, questionnaire will be applied, in order to assess knowledge, skills and attitudes in pharmacovigilance prior to EI. The instrument was elaborated based on previous studies. Second meeting will be comprise a lecture regarding the theoretical framework and importance of pharmacovigilance, and distribution of educational material, whose content includes the same issues of presentation. In the third meeting, a practical class will be performed to promote a discussion of a fictitious case of adverse drug reaction (ADR), in order to elucidate the correct fill of ADE form. In the fourth meeting, will be repeated the application of questionnaire, in order to assess the impact of EI. With the aim to verify change behavior of health professionals regarding pharmacovigilance activities, the number of ADE reports made prior and after intervention will be compared.

Interventions

1. Application of questionnaire of knowledge, attitudes and skills in pharmacovigilance. 2. Lecture regarding the theoretical framework and importance of pharmacovigilance, and distribution of educational material 3. Distribution of educational material 4. Practical class to explain the correct fill of adverse drug events form 5. Reapplication of questionnaire of knowledge, attitudes and skills in pharmacovigilance.

Sponsors

Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

All health professionals (physicians, pharmacists, nurses, auxiliaries of nurses and pharmacists, as well as the multidisciplinary team - social assistants, physiotherapists, audiologists, nutritionists, psychologists, occupational therapists and administrative officers), with employment link at the hospital under study who agree to participate by signing an informed consent form are going to be enrolled.

Exclusion criteria

The

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Absolute Number of ADE Reporting (Change Behavior of Health Professionals)12 monthsInvestigators are going to verify the numbers of adverse drug events reported by health professionals which was made 12 months before educational intervention. A follow up across 12 months post-educational intervention also will be performed, in order to identify the number of adverse drug events reported by health professionals. Prevalence of ADE in both periods will be estimated and compared, in order to asses the impact of the intervention on change behavior of health professionals.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Knowledge (Awareness) Regarding PharmacovigilanceTwo daysKnowledge assessment will be performed by content analysis of answers obtained from questionnaire, being assigned scores from zero to ten. Definitions related to pharmacovigilance of World Health Organization will be considered gold-standard answers. Scores below five will be classified as unsatisfactory, among five and 7.5 were considered regular and above 7.6 satisfactory on the knowledge acquisition.The questionnaire will be applied in the first (prior to educational intervention) and fourth (post-educational intervention period) meetings. Data will be compared, in order to assess the impact of educational intervention on knowledge of health professionals.
Quality of ADE ReportsTwo daysSkills evaluation will be carried out according to the perception of the voluntary regarding the relevance´s degree of the information to be filled in ADE form. Therefore, in the first (prior to educational intervention) and fourth (post-educational intervention period) meetings, subjects will be asked to highlight the fields of ADE form, according to unnecessary, necessary or essential information to be reported. Minimal and desirable criteria to be filled in ADE form preconized by Pan-American Health Organization will be considered gold-standard answers. Scores from zero to ten will be assigned, according to gold-standard answers. Data will be compared, in order to estimate the impact of educational intervention on skills to fill ADE form.

Countries

Brazil

Participant flow

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Subjects Post Educational Intervention
Multifaceted educational intervention in pharmacovigilance Multifaceted educational intervention: 1- Application of questionnaire of knowledge, attitudes and skills in pharmacovigilance. 2- Lecture regarding the theoretical framework and importance of pharmacovigilance, and distribution of educational material 3- Distribution of educational material 4- Practical class to explain the correct fill of adverse drug events form 5- Reapplication of questionnaire of knowledge, attitudes and skills in pharmacovigilance.
173
Total173

Withdrawals & dropouts

PeriodReasonFG000
Overall StudyDid not completed all meetings30

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicSubjects Post Educational Intervention
Age, Continuous30.6 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 6.5
Region of Enrollment
Brazil
173 participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
150 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
23 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
— / —
other
Total, other adverse events
0 / 0
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 0

Outcome results

Primary

Absolute Number of ADE Reporting (Change Behavior of Health Professionals)

Investigators are going to verify the numbers of adverse drug events reported by health professionals which was made 12 months before educational intervention. A follow up across 12 months post-educational intervention also will be performed, in order to identify the number of adverse drug events reported by health professionals. Prevalence of ADE in both periods will be estimated and compared, in order to asses the impact of the intervention on change behavior of health professionals.

Time frame: 12 months

Population: Before educational intervention, health professionals reported only three adverse drug events, related to therapeutic failure. However, after the study, the number of reports rise 70-fold, since subjects reported 165 medication errors, 26 adverse drug reactions, 18 quality deviations, 5 therapeutic failure and one off-label use.

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
Subjects Post Educational InterventionAbsolute Number of ADE Reporting (Change Behavior of Health Professionals)215 absolute number of adverse drug events
Subjects Prior to Educational InterventionAbsolute Number of ADE Reporting (Change Behavior of Health Professionals)3 absolute number of adverse drug events
Secondary

Knowledge (Awareness) Regarding Pharmacovigilance

Knowledge assessment will be performed by content analysis of answers obtained from questionnaire, being assigned scores from zero to ten. Definitions related to pharmacovigilance of World Health Organization will be considered gold-standard answers. Scores below five will be classified as unsatisfactory, among five and 7.5 were considered regular and above 7.6 satisfactory on the knowledge acquisition.The questionnaire will be applied in the first (prior to educational intervention) and fourth (post-educational intervention period) meetings. Data will be compared, in order to assess the impact of educational intervention on knowledge of health professionals.

Time frame: Two days

Population: The subjects were assessed regarding pharmacovigilance´s knowledge prior to educational interventions and after as well, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the study in aware health professionals to report adverse drug events.

ArmMeasureValue (MEDIAN)
Subjects Post Educational InterventionKnowledge (Awareness) Regarding Pharmacovigilance5.2 percentage of right answers
Subjects Prior to Educational InterventionKnowledge (Awareness) Regarding Pharmacovigilance2.3 percentage of right answers
p-value: 0.00001Wilcoxon (Mann-Whitney)
Secondary

Quality of ADE Reports

Skills evaluation will be carried out according to the perception of the voluntary regarding the relevance´s degree of the information to be filled in ADE form. Therefore, in the first (prior to educational intervention) and fourth (post-educational intervention period) meetings, subjects will be asked to highlight the fields of ADE form, according to unnecessary, necessary or essential information to be reported. Minimal and desirable criteria to be filled in ADE form preconized by Pan-American Health Organization will be considered gold-standard answers. Scores from zero to ten will be assigned, according to gold-standard answers. Data will be compared, in order to estimate the impact of educational intervention on skills to fill ADE form.

Time frame: Two days

Population: The subjects were assessed regarding pharmacovigilance´s skills prior to educational interventions and after as well, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the study in contribute on the improvement of the quality of information inserted on the form.

ArmMeasureValue (MEDIAN)
Subjects Post Educational InterventionQuality of ADE Reports5.2 percent of correctly filled forms
Subjects Prior to Educational InterventionQuality of ADE Reports3.9 percent of correctly filled forms
p-value: <0.0001Wilcoxon (Mann-Whitney)

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026