Community pharmacists’ views on ways to innovate adverse drug reaction reporting: a questionnaire survey

Abstract Introduction Spontaneous adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting is one of the most important methods of post-marketing surveillance for patient safety; in the UK, ADRs are reported via the Yellow Card Scheme. However, reporting rates from community pharmacists in Wales are low.1 Potential barriers have been identified2 but it is not known how best to overcome these in a community pharmacy setting. Aim To identify how the ADR reporting process can be made easier and more efficient for community pharmacists. Methods An anonymous online (JISC®) questionnaire was developed from the literature and research team knowledge and expertise. This sought feedback on the acceptability of possible reporting innovations to enhance reporting by community pharmacists, as well as views on current reporting mechanisms and ADR knowledge and experience. Following a small pilot with community pharmacists from a different region to check validity, the questionnaire was promoted to community pharmacists in Wales. As no list of community pharmacists’ emails exists, recruitment used convenience sampling from research team email lists and social media, asking for study information to be disseminated (snowball sampling). Responses were collected over 25 days with regular reminders on social media. Data were exported to Microsoft Excel® and analysed using descriptive statistics. Results Thirty responses were submitted from pharmacists across Wales, registered from 1974–2004 (median 2008). Most (n = 21) had at least moderate knowledge of ADRs and around half (n = 25) were ‘fairly’ to ‘very’ confident in reporting; 23 had submitted more than one Yellow Card and only 4 had never reported. Regarding current methods, there was poor awareness of the Yellow Card app (n = 11 aware) compared to reporting online (n = 30 aware) and via post (n = 27 aware). The most popular innovation was integration of a Yellow Card application within the ChoosePharmacy portal (n = 23 said it would be beneficial); this is a digital platform used by community pharmacists to document services they provide. Ability to make a brief report with fewer details (n = 20) and to track a report and receive feedback were also well received (n = 18), while reminders (n = 9) and a dedicated telephone line for reporting were less popular (only 2 answered yes). Barriers to reporting were not seeing ADRs (n = 16) and lack of time (n = 15), supported by feedback on current reporting methods being time consuming (of those aware, only 2/13 said post was quick and 5/18 said online was quick). Conclusion Despite a low response and higher than expected levels of reporting experience2 limiting the generalisability of findings, the survey has identified some innovations supported by community pharmacists to enhance reporting which can be further explored. Fundamentally, reporting needs to be made more accessible and more efficient, especially regarding the time to fill out reports, as community pharmacy is a busy environment. Of concern was lack of awareness, even amongst this group of predominantly experienced reporters, of the Yellow Card app which is intended to facilitate reporting: further promotion of this resource may be beneficial. Future work will expand these results and explore feasibility of developing the preferred options for a future pilot study.