Factors influencing community pharmacist decision to dispense generic or branded medicines; Eastern Province, Alahsa, Saudi Arabia

Albadr, Yaser; Khan, Tahir Mehmood

doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2014.07.002

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Similarly, another study that evaluated physicians' knowledge, perception, and attitude toward generic medicines in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia suggested that lack of knowledge about generic medicines among the prescribers was one of the major factors that were responsible for the low rate of generic medicine prescribing [17]. In a previous qualitative study conducted in Alahsa city (Eastern province), community pharmacists expressed concerns about the quality of generic medicines [18] To the best of our knowledge, there has been no quantitative study using a structured questionnaire and systematic sampling technique has assessed community pharmacists' knowledge and practices towards generic substitution in Saudi Arabia despite the fact that community pharmacists are 'central' in generic medicines substitution. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate community pharmacists' knowledge, perceptions and opinions towards generic medicines and generic substitution, and to assess their current substitution practices.…”

Section: Saudi Healthcare System and Generic Medicines Usementioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Saudi Healthcare System and Generic Medicines Usementioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…On the other hand, community Pharmacies have been known to consider gain over affordability when dispensing medications to patients. 13 We report here that the levels of generic medications served in the community pharmacies where significantly in favour of branded medications. This finding could be a reflection of the society's attitude towards generic medications, as Saudis prefer European or branded med-icines.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…According to a recent evidence, hospital pharmacists are generally influenced by physicians' decision on branded medications, only engaging in generic substitutions when drugs prescribed are not available. 13 In a situation where branded medications are prescribed, the pharmacists are under obligation to serve it even if the equivalent generic is in stock. The use of generics allows flexibility in both dispensing and procurement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Are there real changes in behaviour, attitude and perceptions of the physicians and pharmacists despite numerous interventions highlighted to address it? 12,13 If factors influencing the prescriptions of branded over generic medications in Saudi Arabia have been addressed, what is the degree of positive response to this policy in terms of extent of generic prescriptions in its hospitals? There are no reports on the levels or extent of generic prescriptions in the hospitals and other healthcare centres in the Eastern region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Extents of Generic Prescribing in Hospitals and Community Pharmacies for Diabetic and Hypertensive Outpatients in Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia

Emeka¹,

Ahmed²

2017

JYP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: As population increase, Healthcare resources are stretched and the need to reduce prescription drug spending becomes obvious. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of generic prescribing in place of their branded counterparts among type 2 diabetic and hypertensive outpatients in Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. Method: A cross section of 13 Hospitals and 17 Community Pharmacies located in Al Ahsa, Dhahran, Khobar and Dammam (both Government and private) were visited. Out of which 58 Physicians and Pharmacists were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Reasons for prescribing and serving either generic or branded were also ascertained. Patients' prescriptions were also examined at the various hospital and community pharmacies. Our focus was on prescription drugs for type 2 diabetic and hypertensive patients only and the study lasted for 6 months. Results: Findings revealed that only 26.9% generic medications were prescribed for both type 2 diabetic and hypertensive patients in the 13 hospitals sampled. It was also observed that while Government hospital prescribed 33.3% generics, private hospitals had 28.6% for same patient category. In the Community Pharmacies, only 23.5% generic were served for diabetics and 11.8% for hypertensive patients. Overall Hospitals branded prescription were 73.1% whereas in community Pharmacies, they represented 82.4% served medications. Conclusion: Levels of generic medication usage appeared to be significantly low. Majority of the Physicians and Pharmacists were of the belief that branded medications give better outcome to patients and this attitude could potentially render Government policies on the use of generic medication ineffective.

show abstract

“…Most of the time the pharmacists are in dilemma whether to dispense a generic drug or a well-known branded drug. 40 In this study this issue is one of the frequent dilemmas among the community pharmacists. This can be because of various reasons.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Community Pharmacists’ Perceptions on Ethical Dilemmas, Pharmacy values and Decision-making

Rajiah¹,

Venkataraman²

2018

IJOPP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Ethics can be predisposed by an individual's values, education, social activities, professional activities, belief, and individual's need. Objective: This study was designed to find out the dilemma in handling ethical issues at community pharmacy settings; to find out the frequency of ethical dilemma at community pharmacy settings; to find out the reasons why community pharmacists may compromise ethical values; to find out how frequent the community pharmacists are involved in ethical dilemma situations. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted using a validated self-administered questionnaire from March 2016 to December 2017. The participants were selected using a multi-stage cluster random sampling. Results: In this study, 1057 community pharmacists were approached to participate in this study. Out of this, 742 community pharmacists responded by completing the questionnaire. The response rate in this study is 70.19%. More than half of the issues given were measured as "difficult" and "very difficult" by the community pharmacists. The most common ethical dilemma was fear of breaking trustworthiness which strongly impacts the pharmacist-physician collaborations. 'Carry out patient's request' 'physician's orders' and 'employer`s request' were the reasons of community pharmacists compromising the ethical values. Conclusion: Community pharmacists are confronted with numerous ethical problems in their daily work. Most of the pharmacists face the ethical dilemma situations at least once a week in their pharmacies. Community pharmacists compromise on their values and ethical issues not only because of patient's or physician's request but also because of their employers' intrusion.

show abstract

Factors influencing community pharmacist decision to dispense generic or branded medicines; Eastern Province, Alahsa, Saudi Arabia

Cited by 14 publications

References 15 publications

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

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

Extents of Generic Prescribing in Hospitals and Community Pharmacies for Diabetic and Hypertensive Outpatients in Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia

Community Pharmacists’ Perceptions on Ethical Dilemmas, Pharmacy values and Decision-making

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About