The effectiveness of dear healthcare professional letters as a risk minimization tool in Ghana

Abstract

Dear Healthcare Professional (DHP) letter is a risk minimization tool used to inform health workers about new and emerging safety information during the marketing period of medicinal products. DHP letters in some cases may not be effective because targeted audience may not be aware of these letters or even understand them. The objectives of this study were to assess the effectiveness and relevance of DHP letters as effective risk minimization tool and to seek opinion of health workers about the most effective way of communicating safety information. A descriptive correlational study of 913 health workers selected by convenient sampling through face-to-face interviews from Apr. to June, 2014 was conducted, with a response rate of 83.15%. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis and Pearson-chi square test (χ 2 ) with STATA version 13. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant during the analysis. Of the 913 respondents only 350 (38.34%) were aware of at least one of the letters distributed in 2013 and 314 (89.71%) out of these admitted that these letters have influenced their way of prescribing, dispensing and administering the medicines involved. One hundred and ninety-two (54.82%) of the respondents rated the level of understanding of the language used as good and there was no significant difference in the health workers rating of the language used in the letters (p=0.40). Health workers suggested electronic methods such as short messaging service to their mobile phones 56.81% (438), e-mail 91 (85.85%) and posting the letters on the Food and Drugs Authority's website 26.85% (207). The results suggest that DHP letters issued by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) are effective in changing behavior of those who receive them but they are received late or not at all. The FDA should therefore explore other means of communicating safety information such as electronic means as suggested by the health workers.

Implications of Direct Healthcare Professional Communication in Egypt: barriers and preferences of Health Care Professionals

“…The agreement should include the DHPC content, distribution list specifying the target HCPs, the distribution mechanism, and the timeframe [1]. However, in Ghana, a Dear Healthcare Professional (DHP) letter is a correspondence usually in the form of a mass mailing from MAH of the medicinal product or a regulatory authority addressed to doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other health workers regarding important new safety information [4,18]. This study aimed to assess the HCPs' preferences and knowledge of DHPC and to detect barriers hindering the success of DHPC in Egypt.…”

“…Similarly, in Netherland [11], HCPs preferred to receive information mainly through e-mails. While in Ghana [4], and SMS to their mobile phones was the most preferred channel. In the current study, meetings were the most preferred channels, as they allowed face-to-face interaction and discussion, followed by electronic channels (email) which are a friendly, timesaving method for most HCPs.…”

“…In certain cases when a serious safety issue is raised necessitating immediate dissemination of information, Direct Health Care Professional Communication (DHPC) distribution can be requested from the related pharmaceutical company [1]. DHPCs are mainly used to communicate urgent new serious safety information to the target Health Care Professionals (HCPs) on time [4].…”

“…There is unclear data about HCPs awareness of DHPC [5,6]. Besides, the successful delivery of DHPC to HCP, its clarity, and its effectiveness in changing the prescribing practice of targeted HCPs is still questionable [7]; few studies revealed that DHPCs were suitable in conveying the required message and affecting the HCP's behavior [8][9][10], however, the majority of conducted studies showed several defects in such risk communication tool, ranging from the fact that it did not actually reach the target HCPs [4,11], to its poor ability in communicating the required data [12,13]. Hence, some studies recommended the use of an additional method with DHPC for better risk communication.…”

“…Hence, some studies recommended the use of an additional method with DHPC for better risk communication. [4,11,14,15]. To date, the use of DHPC has never been evaluated in Egypt.…”