Pharmacovigilance Reporting Practices and Adverse Drug Reaction Awareness Among Healthcare Workers in Kaduna State Hospitals

Pharmacovigilance, the science of monitoring the safety of medicines in clinical use, relies fundamentally on systematic adverse drug reaction reporting by healthcare workers. In Nigeria, underreporting of ADRs remains a major challenge limiting the capacity of the National Pharmacovigilance Centre to detect safety signals. This study assessed ADR awareness, knowledge of reporting procedures, and actual reporting practices among healthcare workers in three tertiary and five secondary care hospitals in Kaduna State, North West Nigeria. A structured, pre-validated self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 250 doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Focus group discussions provided qualitative depth to the quantitative findings. Overall ADR awareness was 78%, with pharmacists scoring significantly higher than nurses and doctors. Knowledge of the specific reporting pathway through the NAFDAC Yellow Card system was low at 31%. Only 12% of respondents had submitted an ADR report in the preceding twelve months. Primary barriers to reporting included uncertainty about what constitutes a reportable event, fear of blame, and inadequate time. Pharmacists were significantly more likely to report than other professional cadres. These findings indicate a critical need for structured pharmacovigilance training programmes integrated into continuing professional development curricula for all healthcare professions in Kaduna State hospitals. Keywords: pharmacovigilance, adverse drug reactions, healthcare workers, Kaduna State, reporting.