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Exploring pharmacists' opinions regarding PHARMAC's interventions in promoting brand changes
Z U Babar1, A Polwin1, S W Kan1
1Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Research in Social & Administrative Pharmacy : RSAP
|May 10, 2014
Summary
Pharmacists in New Zealand generally support medicine brand changes, but desire improved communication and longer lead times from the Pharmaceutical Management Agency of New Zealand (PHARMAC). Current interventions are seen as partially effective, with specific medicines posing substitution challenges.
Area of Science:
- Pharmaceutical Policy
- Pharmacist Practice
- Health Services Research
Background:
- The Pharmaceutical Management Agency of New Zealand (PHARMAC) promotes generic medicine use through various interventions, including educational campaigns for pharmacists.
- Pharmacist perspectives on the effectiveness and impact of these interventions have not been previously evaluated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore pharmacists' opinions on Pharmaceutical Management Agency of New Zealand (PHARMAC) interventions aimed at promoting medicine brand changes.
- To identify factors influencing the ease or difficulty of generic medicine substitution from the pharmacist's viewpoint.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving questionnaires distributed to 500 randomly selected New Zealand pharmacists.
- Semi-structured interviews conducted with pharmacists in five community pharmacies in the Auckland region.
Main Results:
- A 37.4% response rate for the questionnaire component.
- 68% of pharmacists supported medicine brand changes, with 98.4% acknowledging PHARMAC's role in informing them.
- Satisfaction with current PHARMAC information was 39.6%, with a preference for email over fax notifications (70.8% vs 94.7%).
- Cilazapril was the least difficult to substitute; omeprazole and salbutamol were the most difficult, influenced by patient acceptance and perceived effectiveness.
- Concerns were raised regarding the frequency of changes and generic stock availability.
Conclusions:
- Over one-third of surveyed pharmacists were satisfied with the brand change information provided by PHARMAC.
- Barriers to generic substitution included claims about effectiveness, quality, and side effects.
- Pharmacists indicated a need for improved preparation time, ideally 3-6 months, for medicine brand changes.
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