Survery of healthcare professionals to assess the awareness, knowledge and self-reported behavior regarding recent fluoroquinolones safety issues.

Background and aims

The impact of fluoroquinolone (FQ)-induced long-lasting, disabling, and potentially irreversible serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) on the overall benefit-risk balance and the need for adequate risk minimization measures has been recently assessed. The present study aims to evaluate physicians and pharmacists' awareness and knowledge of the recent safety issues communicated through a direct healthcare professional communication (DHPC), regarding FQs, at a national level, in Romania, as well as healthcare professionals (HPs) self-reported behavior regarding the management of the risk.

Methods

Cross-sectional, online survey study, conducted in Romania.

Results

A total of 127 participants responded to the survey. Six (4.7%) were physicians and 121 (95.3%) were pharmacists. The predominant age was 31-40 years (N=52, 40.9%), and most respondents were females (N=117, 92.1%). A majority of 101 (79.5%) were reportedly aware of the existence of the new safety issues associated with FQs, and slightly less were aware of the DHPC (N=86, 67.7%) issued in 2019. In terms of knowledge, slightly more than half of the respondents had correctly selected the responses regarding key safety messages on most important ADRs and restrictions / cautions for use. The impact of the communication on HPs self-reported behavior was high or very high in almost half of the participants (N=63, 49.6%).

Conclusions

A high percentage of participants were aware of the FQ-associated safety concerns. Knowledge was relatively good for the key safety concerns among HPs. A notable impact on behavior was observed, mostly in terms of counselling of the patient and disseminating the information to colleagues.