Objective To find out about the medical personnel’s knowledge of adverse drug reactions (ADR) in Taiyuan on order to suggest countermeasures.  Methods Questionnaires were used inquiring 714 health care providers about their knowledge of adverse drug reactions in 12 hospitals of various grades about the knowledge of adverse drug reactions. The data collected were compared according to lengths of service, professional titles, levels of education, spheres of research and grades of places of employment. The result was analyzed statistically.  Results Medical personnel in Taiyuan had the basic knowledge of ADR, but were at different levels in their knowledge of ADR related laws and regulations and the reporting system. The cognition degrees in the medical personnel of different years of service and different professional titles were basically similar. The level of cognition was directly proportional to the level of education. Practitioners of TCM had the highest cognition degree. The higher the grade of places of employment, the more attention the professionals paid to perfection of ADR related work.Conclusions It is necessary to work on training, popularize the knowledge of ADR; bring superiority into full play, perfect the evaluation of drug safety; enhance the competence of monitoring personnel, and improve the ability to deal with ADR.