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Knowledge and perceptions of physicians from private medical centres towards generic medicines: a nationwide survey from Malaysia

Overview of attention for article published in Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, March 2015
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135 Mendeley
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Title
Knowledge and perceptions of physicians from private medical centres towards generic medicines: a nationwide survey from Malaysia
Published in
Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, March 2015
DOI 10.1186/s40545-015-0031-9
Pubmed ID
Authors

Rohit Kumar, Mohamed Azmi Hassali, Fahad Saleem, Alian A Alrasheedy, Navneet Kaur, Zhi Yen Wong, Muhamad Ali SK Abdul Kader

Abstract

Generic medicine prescribing has become a common practice in public hospitals. However, the trend in private medical centres seems to be different. The objective of this study was to investigate knowledge, perceptions and behavior of physicians from private medical centres in Malaysia regarding generic medicines. This study was a cross-sectional nationwide survey targeting physicians from private medical centres in Malaysia. The survey was conducted using questionnaire having (i) background and demographic data of the physicians, volume of prescription in a day, stock of generic medicines in their hospital pharmacy etc. (ii) their knowledge about bioequivalence (iii) prescribing behavior (iv) physicians' knowledge of quality, safety and efficacy of generic medicines, and their cost (v) perceptions of physicians towards issues pertaining to generic medicines utilization. A total of 263 questionnaires out of 735 were received, giving a response rate of 35.8%. Of the respondents, 214 (81.4%) were male and 49 (18.6%) were females. The majority of the participants were in the age range of 41-50 years and comprised 49.0% of the respondents. Only 2.3% of physicians were aware of the regulatory limits of bioequivalence standards in Malaysia. Of the respondents, 23.2% agreed that they 'always' write their prescriptions using originator product name whereas 50.2% do it 'usually'. A number of significant associations were found between their knowledge, perceptions about generic medicines and their demographic characteristics. The majority of the physicians from private medical centres in Malaysia had negative perceptions about safety, quality and the efficacy of generic medicines. These negative perceptions could be the cause of the limited use of generic medicines in the private medical centres. Therefore, in order to facilitate their use, it is recommended that the physicians need to be reassured and educated about the drug regulatory authority approval system of generic medicines with regard to their bioequivalence, quality, efficacy and safety. Apart from the policy on generic substitution, it would also be recommended to have a national medicine pricing policy, which controls drug prices, in both the public and private sector. These efforts are worthwhile to reduce the drug expenditure and improve the medicine affordability in Malaysia.

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X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 135 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 135 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 23 17%
Student > Master 19 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 16 12%
Researcher 11 8%
Student > Postgraduate 6 4%
Other 22 16%
Unknown 38 28%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 35 26%
Medicine and Dentistry 16 12%
Business, Management and Accounting 14 10%
Social Sciences 8 6%
Nursing and Health Professions 5 4%
Other 14 10%
Unknown 43 32%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 May 2015.
All research outputs
#13,937,513
of 22,794,367 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice
#251
of 405 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#133,547
of 262,013 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice
#10
of 14 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,794,367 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 37th percentile – i.e., 37% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 405 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 11.3. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 262,013 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 14 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 14th percentile – i.e., 14% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.