Cost awareness among healthcare professionals at a South African hospital: A cross-sectional survey

Nethathe, Gladness Dakalo; Tshukutsoane, S.; Denny, Kevin

doi:10.7196/samj.2017.v107i11.12513

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Our findings are similar to those from an American study where only 33% of physicians' respondents stated they had routine access to the medicine cost data (42). This hypothesis was also echoed by healthcare practitioners in a South African study with 92.2% of respondents requesting for data on the costs of prescribed medicines (29).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…The chief resident of the participating department was in charge of the distribution and collection of the completed forms. STUDY INSTRUMENT: A semi-structured self-administered questionnaire was developed by the principal investigator (JF) using information from three previous studies (27)(28)(29). The questionnaire was subsequently pre-tested among ten physicians who were employed in a secondary-level healthcare facility with a similar staffing structure to the tertiary facilities.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there are only a few studies from LMICs regarding physicians' knowledge of the costs of prescribed medicines. Billa et al investigated physicians' awareness of medicine costs in India, while a recent paper from South Africa evaluated healthcare professionals' knowledge of the costs of medicines (28,29). Whilst many drug utilization studies conducted in Nigeria have also focused on the costs of medicines (30-32), the authors are not aware of any Nigerian study that has been published assessing physicians' knowledge and attitude towards the costs of commonly prescribed medications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Knowledge and Attitude of Physicians Towards the Cost of Commonly Prescribed Medicines: A Case Study in Three Nigerian Healthcare Facilities

Fadare

Enwere

Adeoti

et al. 2020

Value in Health Regional Issues

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Background: One of the core principles of rational prescribing is consideration of the cost of the medicines prescribed especially in countries with high patient co-payments and low incomes such as Nigeria. Little is known about Nigerian physicians' knowledge about the cost of commonly prescribed medicines. Objective: The principal objective of the study was to assess the knowledge of Nigerian physicians about the cost of commonly prescribed medicines. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted among physicians in three tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Apart from socio-demographic and other information, questions about the estimated costs of branded and generic versions of 11 commonly prescribed medications were included in the questionnaire. Results: One hundred and seventy-nine (179; 95.7%) respondents agreed that costs of medicines were important when writing prescriptions even though only 7 (3.7%) of them had any formal training in the economics of healthcare. The median percentages of respondents with accurate estimated costs for generic and originator brands were 6.2% and 12% respectively. Respondents were more knowledgeable about the cost of medicines used for the treatment of infectious diseases (malaria, bacterial infections) than non-communicable diseases (diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia). Conclusions: The knowledge of Nigerian physicians in the three participating hospitals about the costs of commonly prescribed medicines was poor. This is despite their awareness about the importance of costs of medicines when prescribing. HIGHLIGHTS What is known about the topic?Healthcare expenditure is escalating worldwide with the cost of medicines responsible for a major proportion of overall healthcare expenditure especially in lower-and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the costs of medicines can account for up to 70% of total healthcare expenditure. This is a major challenge in LMICs where the majority of the population pay "out of pocket" for their healthcare, and where the costs of care for patients with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) can be potentially catastrophic. Little is currently known about physicians' knowledge of the cost of medicines in Nigeria, which needs to be addressed to help ensure that patients can afford the medicines they are prescribed. Otherwise, there will be concerns with long term adherence to the medicines prescribed especially for chronic diseases and the subsequent impact on their health. What does the paper add to existing knowledge?The results of this study revealed poor knowledge of the cost of prescribed medicines for common medical conditions among physicians in tertiary healthcare facilities in Nigeria. This is not surprising as only 7% of respondents had any formal training in health economics or "cost consciousness". However, this is a concern since tertiary hospitals are the training hospitals for future physicians in Nigeria and lack of 'cost consciousness' here may well continue when physicians qualify and work in other settings...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Knowledge and Attitude of Physicians Towards the Cost of Commonly Prescribed Medicines: A Case Study in Three Nigerian Healthcare Facilities

Fadare

Enwere

Adeoti

et al. 2020

Value in Health Regional Issues

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“…10 Public primary health care (PHC) in SA is available within 5 km to more than 90% of the population. 11 Considering that financial costs hinder adequate health care in SA 12 as well as the large percentage of South African citizens who rely on public health institutions (71,5%), 13 optimising resources should be done routinely. Knowledge of associations between adult height and glycaemic control may be useful in risk stratifying PLWD when formal tests are unavailable, this especially in under-resourced peripheral healthcare facilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult height and diabetes control: is there an association?

Chetty

Pillay

2021

Journal of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes of South Afri

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Background: Obesity is commonly associated with diabetes mellitus (DM). The most frequent anthropometric index utilised to assess obesity is the body mass index (BMI), which uses height and weight as variables, but eliminates height as an independent analytical variable. Currently there are no data available on the relationship between adult height and glycaemic control in patients living with diabetes (PLWD) within the context of HIV infection.Objectives: This study aimed to determine an association between final adult height and glycaemic control in an HIV endemic area. Methods: Standardised clinic sheets were used from the DM clinic at

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“…Log (deviation) data tend towards normally distributed data (Fig. ); the effect of overestimating the cost of cheap items remains but is now more demonstrable .…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%