Assessment of basic knowledge on reporting adverse drug reactions (ADR) in students of the Medical faculty in Novi Sad, Serbia: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: The developed pharmacovigilance system is the most important requirement for conducting research to improve the safety of drugs, and thus more effective protection of public health. Considering this, we conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the basic knowledge of students at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad, Serbia, on reporting adverse drug reactions (ADR). Methods: The study included a total of 150 students of medicine (N=73), pharmacy (N=65), and nursing science (N=12), who voluntarily and anonymously filled out an online NRL Reporting Basic Knowledge Questionnaire (Cronbach α=0.7) during May and June 2020. Results: The total average score of the respondents was 9.09; min.6, max.10. Analyzing obtained scores in groups, pharmacy students achieved the highest average score (9.32; min.7, max.10), followed by medical (8.93; min.6, max.10) and students of nursing science (8.83; min.8, max.10) (F(2.147)=3,077; p<0.05). Using Tukey posthoc method, a statistically significant difference was found only between the average scores of students of pharmacy and medical students, whose average score was significantly lower compared to the score of future pharmacists (p<0.05). Even though the average score of nursing science students was the lowest, the established difference could not be reported as statistically significant due to the small sample of respondents.
Conclusion: Students from all three included study groups of the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad presented a high level of basic knowledge about ADR reporting.