A Qualitative Study of The Current Situation of The Role of Pharmacists in Antituberculosis Pharmacovigilance Practice in Tuberculosis patients in Indonesia

Lack of anti-tuberculosis adverse drug reactions reporting through pharmacovigilance practices is a significant factor in delaying drug cessation and providing a risk of tuberculosis therapy failure. Pharmacist contribution to pharmacovigilance practices in tuberculosis patients is expected to help tuberculosis control programs in Indonesia. Pharmacovigilance is one of the tasks of pharmacists in pharmaceutical services and requires the pharmacist's awareness to report adverse drug reactions. The study aims to conduct a qualitative study of the current situation of the role of pharmacists in pharmacovigilance practice among tuberculosis patients in Indonesia. The study is a qualitative study with a phenomenological design through in-depth interviews, video, and document studies with pharmacists working in the service department at Hospitals and Public Health Centres that perform tuberculosis patient services in several provinces in Indonesia. The province was chosen based on case notification data, treatment coverage, and success rates for tuberculosis patients in Indonesia. Participants were recruited using a convenient sampling method. The interview followed the interview guidelines that had been prepared and validated before use. The data obtained was analyzed thematically using NVivo 14 software. Twelve pharmacists scattered across twelve provinces in Indonesia were taken as samples. This qualitative analysis reveals five themes. Themes that have been identified are the limited knowledge of pharmacists on pharmacovigilance and ADR, the low involvement of the pharmacist in anti-tuberculosis pharmacovigilance practices in tuberculosis patients, the implementation of anti-tuberculosis pharmacovigilance practices among tuberculosis patients that are not optimal, the high barrier to pharmacologists in the practice of anti-tuberculosis pharmacovigilance in tuberculosis patients and efforts to maximize anti-tuberculosis pharmacovigilance practice in tuberculosis people. The role of pharmacists in anti-tuberculose pharmacovigilance practices in tuberculosis patients in Indonesia is still very low. It is estimated that efforts to improve pharmacists' active role in tuberculosis programs, increase knowledge through science updates and training-related pharmacovigilance anti-tuberculosis, and use technology-based instruments for simple anti-tuberculosis adverse drug reaction assessment will increase pharmacist self-confidence in implementing the practice of pharmacovigilance anti-tuberculosis in TB patients.