Abstract: Objective To investigate the public awareness of drug use risks, risk-handling methods, and channels and ways to access drug information. Methods Qualitative data was obtained via an online survey, and the subjects were compared by age, gender, levels of education, and financial status. The survey involved levels of knowledge of adverse drug reactions, willingness to accept risks, ways to seek information about adverse drug reactions, and interpretations of adverse drug reactions. Results The study found that 86.70% of the subjects knew something about adverse drug reactions and experienced them during medication, but they did not obtain sufficient information on drug risks (83.00%). In case of side effects, 80.00% of the subjects would seek advice from a doctor or pharmacist. 71.75% of the respondents reported that doctors and pharmacists did not provide enough information about drug safety. 52.66% of them believed that medication had to be discontinued in the event of adverse drug reactions. Drug instructions (27.81%), doctors (21.38%) and online social media (20.19%) were currently the three main means to harvest drug information. The public believed that the government regulatory agencies should be notified (92.23%) when an adverse drug reaction occurs, and that the pharmaceutical company should add this information to the drug insert (87.43%) or feed the information back to the medical institution (32.47%). 79.81% of the public would be reluctant to read drug instructions because the doctor had explained the usage of the drug.Conclusion The public remains ill-informed of the safety of drug use, so there is the need to make related information more accessible. Doctors, pharmacists and online media are the main sources for the public to obtain information on drug use. Government regulatory agencies and pharmaceutical companies should work together to improve the safety of drug use.

Key words: adverse reaction, public, drug, use risk, perception