Generic Medicines : Perceptions Of Physicians, Pharmacists, Consumers, Final Year Medical And Pharmacy Students In Iraq
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Date
2011
Authors
Al-Sharrad, Adheed Khalid Sharrad
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Abstract
Generic medicines provide an opportunity for major savings in health care expenditure
to both government and consumers Within this context, no studies have been conducted
in Iraq regarding the perceptions held by physicians, pharmacists, consumers and future
practitioners such as medical and pharmacy students towards the prescribing,
substitution, and use of generic medicines Therefore, the aims of this thesis were to
investigate perceptions and knowledge held by both the healthcare providers and
consumers toward the quality use of generic medicines in Iraq. In order to reach these
aims, qualitative methods were used.
Ten physicians were interviewed. Thematic content analysis of the interviews identified
seven major themes: medicine prescribing practices, knowledge of therapeutic
equivalency of generic medicines, patients’ acceptance of generic medicines, counterfeit
medicines, source of information on medicines and the influence of drug advertising on
the choice of medicine, brand substitution practices by community pharmacists, and
strategies to improve the usefulness of generic medicines.
A total of ten pharmacists were also interviewed. Five major themes emerged: generic
medicines substitution practices, knowledge about generic medication, quality and safety
of generic medicines, patient education by pharmacists regarding generic medicines and
strategies to improve generic medicine utility.A total of fourteen consumers were interviewed in order to explore their opinion towards
issues related to generic medicines use. Thematic analysis of the interviews identified
five major themes: understanding of the term ‘‘generic medicine,’’ preference for
generic medicine, refusal of generic medicine, generic substitution, and educating the
consumers on the use of generic medicines.
Based on the outcomes of the studies conducted in chapter 3, 4 and 5 of this thesis,
particularly the apparent knowledge deficits of physicians and pharmacists, the
knowledge and perceptions of generic medicines were explored among future medical
and pharmacy practitioners in several universities in Iraq. For these studies, two
questionnaire surveys were conducted. Chapter 6 and 7 of this thesis present the
methodology and the study findings for these two surveys. Analysis of the Responses for
both groups indicated that there is also a lack in knowledge regarding generic medicines,
especially on the aspects of bioequivalence. In conclusion, this thesis highlights the
existing barriers to the usage of generic medicines in Iraq from the points of view of
physicians, pharmacists and consumers. In order to overcome these barriers, actions are
needed to elevate confidence in generic medicines among healthcare practitioners. This
can be achieved by providing appropriate topics at the undergraduate level, clarifying
bioequivalence, safety and efficacy of generic medicines which appears to be currently
lacking.
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Keywords
Generic drugs