To study doctor’s beliefs, barriers, awareness, and actual practices regarding use of generic medicines

Authors

  • Venkatesh V. Khadke Department of Pharmacology, Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College, Nanded 431606, Maharashtra, India
  • Shahbaz Yasin Khanda MBBS Student, Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College, Nanded 431606, Maharashtra, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20173134

Keywords:

Awareness, Barriers, Beliefs, Generic medicines, Practices, RMPs

Abstract

Background: Government of India is trying to popularize generic medicines, still most Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) doubt its quality and efficacy. We conducted a cross sectional survey to study the barriers that hinders the practice of writing generic prescriptions. The aim was to study doctor’s knowledge, beliefs and actual practices regarding generic medicines. This study is a KAP survey model (Knowledge, attitude, practices) to study beliefs, barriers, awareness and actual practices regarding use of generic medicines amongst private practioners and RMPs of tertiary care Government hospital in Nanded city.

Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 300 randomly selected RMPs practicing in Nanded, Maharashtra. A 26-item questionnaire was designed, validated, and data collected through personal visits. Fisher’s exact test was applied to see associations between variables using Graphpad Prism 7.

Results: 234 RMPs responded to the questionnaire i.e. a response rate of 78% was achieved. 107 (45.7%) participants claimed to be actively prescribing generic medicines. 122 (52.1%) of the participants were unaware of any generic medical shop in their locality. 83 (35.5%) participants believed generics to be duplicate/ substandard. However, 16 (19.3%) of them still prescribed generics. One-third of them actually preferred its use for family.

Conclusions: RMPs do not accept the use of generic medicines for concerns about its quality and efficacy. Also, there was unawareness regarding availability of generic medicines in the locality. RMPs need to be educated about manufacture, sale and quality aspects of generic medicines in India.

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Published

2017-07-22

How to Cite

Khadke, V. V., & Khanda, S. Y. (2017). To study doctor’s beliefs, barriers, awareness, and actual practices regarding use of generic medicines. International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology, 6(8), 1871–1879. https://doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20173134

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Original Research Articles