Evaluating community pharmacists’ perspectives and practices concerning generic medicines substitution in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Alkhuzaee, Fahad Saleh; Almalki, Hamdan M.; Attar, Ammar Y.; Althubiani, Shoeab I.; Almuallim, Wassam Ali; Cheema, Ejaz; Hadi, Muhammad Abdul

doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2016.09.018

Cited by 18 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Similar to this study, findings from studies conducted in Malaysia, New Zealand, Czechia, and Saudi Arabia found that pharmacists support generic drug substitution in general [ 23 , 30 , 32 , 41 ]. However, contrary to our finding, the majority of pharmacists in Iran (71.6%) and the USA (83.8%) stated that they have generically substituted prescriptions that allowed generic substitution [ 42 , 43 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…These included poor adherence of physicians and pharmacists to the new policy [ 45 ], lack of trust of health professionals and consumers in quality and bioequivalence of drugs [ 47 – 49 ], incentives from pharmaceutical companies [ 50 ], and absence of appropriate medicine prices and pricing systems to promote generic medicine [ 45 , 48 ]. Findings on the key enablers for promoting generic drug substitution confirmed those reported previously and included the presence of supportive legislation and regulations to promote a competitive market for generic drugs, creation of a trusted medicines regulatory authority, quality assurance capacity, acceptance by health professional and the public, and pro-generic drug incentives for prescribers, dispensers and patients [ 6 , 13 , 32 , 43 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

“…These were measured by three scales (each composed of several items): Attitude towards Generic Drug Substitution (two items), Attitude towards the Unified Medical Prescription (four items), and Layout/Structure of Form (two items). Each item was rated on a range from 1 to 5 where 1 indicates “Strongly disagree” and 5 indicates “Strongly agree.” Similar response scale and anchors were used elsewhere [ 32 ]. Reported practices in relation to the implementation of the new generic drug substitution policy.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pharmacists’ views and reported practices in relation to a new generic drug substitution policy in Lebanon: a mixed methods study

et al. 2017

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BackgroundGovernments in both developed and developing countries have adopted generic drug substitution policies to decrease pharmaceutical expenditures and improve access to medicine. In August 2015, the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) in Lebanon introduced generic drug substitution and a unified medical prescription form as policy instruments to promote generic drug use. The objective of this exploratory study was to examine the attitudes of community pharmacists and the reported practices in relation to the implementation of the new generic drug substitution policy.MethodsWe used a cross-sectional mixed methods approach composed of self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The study population consisted of community pharmacists in Lebanon. We randomly approached one pharmacy personnel from each selected community pharmacy. We conducted descriptive analyses to assess responses to questionnaire and regression analyses to understand associations between responses and respondent demographics. We analyzed qualitative data thematically.ResultsOut of 204 invited community pharmacies, 153 pharmacies participated (75% response rate). The majority of respondents (64%) were in favor of generic drug substitution; however, less than half (40%) indicated they have substituted brand drugs for generic equivalents. Moreover, 57% indicated that the existing pricing system discourages them from performing generic drug substitution. Most respondents indicated that physicians are overusing the “non-substitutable” option (84%) and that there are technical problems with processing the new prescription form (78%). Less than half (47%) reported that the MOPH is performing regular audits on the forms collected by the pharmacy. While 45% of the respondents indicated that consumers have accepted most of the generic substitutions, 21% perceived the increase in generic drug dispensing to be significant. Findings suggested a potentially significant association between being informed about generic drugs and respondents’ support of the policy. Suggested strategies to address implementation challenges included strengthening stewardship function of MOPH, securing full commitment of health care providers, conducting educational and awareness campaigns about generic drugs and generic drug substitution, and aligning incentive systems of the key stakeholders.ConclusionsThe majority of community pharmacists were supportive of generic drug substitution in general but not of the current implementation of the policy in Lebanon. Findings revealed implementation challenges at the provider, patient, and system level which are hindering attainment of the policy objectives. The key lessons derived from this study can be used for continuous improvement of the policy and its implementation.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13012-017-0556-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pharmacists’ views and reported practices in relation to a new generic drug substitution policy in Lebanon: a mixed methods study

et al. 2017

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“…In Saudi there are 20 governmental colleges of pharmacy and the majority of the Saudi graduate works in hospitals. Thus, 99% of community pharmacists are non–Saudi, with Egyptians being the predominant nationals 23–31…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medication safety problems priorities in community pharmacy in Saudi Arabia: a multi-stakeholder Delphi study using the human factors framework

et al. 2019

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AimTo achieve multi-stakeholder consensus and prioritisation of medication safety problems in community pharmacies in Saudi Arabia.Design and interventionA theoretically-underpinned, three-round Delphi study.SettingSaudi Arabia.ParticipantsPatients and public (pharmacy users), pharmacy-related professionals (policymakers, academics, medication safety officers and pharmacy owners) and community pharmacists.MethodsRound 1 comprised 84 statements derived from a qualitative study. The items were grouped according to the Human Factors Framework (HFF). Rounds 1 and 2 aimed to achieve consensus, 6-point Likert response scale (agreement/disagreement) was used. Round 3 aimed to prioritise the items for which consensus was achieved in Rounds 1 and 2 indicated on a 5-point scale (very important to unimportant). Consensus was predefined as any item that achieved ≥70%.ResultsThe number of respondents in Rounds 1, 2 and 3 was 161, 120 and 112, respectively. In all three rounds, the majority of respondents were pharmacy users (Round 1 77% (n=124), Round 2 74% (n=89), Round 3 72% (n=81)). Consensus was achieved with 28/84 items. The top five medication safety priorities were: lack of pharmacy facilities such as counselling area, lack of communication between pharmacists and physicians, lack of patient databases, lack of post-registration pharmacist education and pharmacists’ long working hours. The professional and pharmacy user groups achieved consensus on similar items through different categories of the HFFs. Community pharmacists had the highest percentage of consensus among the three groups for factors related to work, such as high workload and low salaries.ConclusionThis multi-stakeholder study used the HFF to identify and prioritise the main medication safety challenges facing community pharmacy in Saudi Arabia. It indicates the need for changes to practice and policy and further research to address these priorities and promote medication safety at an individual, pharmacy and population level.

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“…They also concluded that 'Healthcare policy makers need to improve awareness about the safety and efficacy of generic medicines and promote their use to cut down the cost of medicines and overall healthcare expenditure'. 11 Another one was the study in South Gujarat, India by Kirtida R Tandel, et al; in the year of 2018, concluded that the teaching faculties had knowledge of generic medicines but there was a gap in knowledge and perception of generic and branded drugs. 6 In India doctors as well as pharmacists have less awareness about generic medicine, so pharmacists agree that there should be some training sessions for doctors, pharmacists as well as patients about the awareness of generic medicine.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmacy Professionals Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice on Generic Medicine at Tertiary Care Hospitals

Shivgunde¹,

Jadhav²,

Kodilkar³

2020

Int Res J Pharm

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Health care expenses are booming now a day. India is one of the biggest generic medicine manufacturers all over the world. Less knowledge of generic medicine correlates to less prescribing and dispensing of generic medicine. As a pharmacist play an important role in providing a safe and effective medicine to the patient, so they required great knowledge and attitude towards generic medicine. The main objective is to assess the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) of generic medicine among pharmacists in Tertiary Care Hospital, Nashik. This is an observational, cross-sectional, KAP questionnaire-based study carried among 130 pharmacy professionals. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics. More than half of the total number of participants (n = 130) had answered general knowledge questions about generic medicines correctly. Attitude study among pharmacy professionals showed that most of them had great knowledge about safety, efficacy but they were neutral attitudes viz and they didn't have perfect idea and were not sure about the manufacturing standards of generic medicines. Most of the pharmacists dispense an innovator drug over generic medicine available (53.84%). The maximum number of pharmacists had never read articles that compared the safety and efficacy of generic versus innovator medicines (61.53%). Our study shows that pharmacists had good knowledge and a positive attitude towards generic medicine but the practice was comparatively poor.

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Evaluating community pharmacists’ perspectives and practices concerning generic medicines substitution in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Cited by 18 publications

References 18 publications

Pharmacists’ views and reported practices in relation to a new generic drug substitution policy in Lebanon: a mixed methods study

Pharmacists’ views and reported practices in relation to a new generic drug substitution policy in Lebanon: a mixed methods study

Medication safety problems priorities in community pharmacy in Saudi Arabia: a multi-stakeholder Delphi study using the human factors framework

Pharmacy Professionals Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice on Generic Medicine at Tertiary Care Hospitals

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