O'Leary A, Usher C, Lynch M, Hall M, Hemeryk L, Spillane S, Gallagher P, Barry M
National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, St. James's Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland.
School of Pharmacy, Royal College of Surgeons, St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
BMC Res Notes. 2015 Dec 15;8:790. doi: 10.1186/s13104-015-1764-x.
The Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013 passed into law in July 2013 and legislated for generic substitution in Ireland. The aim of the study was to ascertain the knowledge and perceptions of stakeholders i.e. patients, pharmacists and prescribers, of generic medicines and to generic substitution with the passing of legislation.
Three stakeholder specific questionnaires were developed to assess knowledge of and perceptions to generic medicines and generic substitution. Purposive samples of patients, prescribers and pharmacists were analysed. Descriptive quantitative and qualitative analyses were undertaken.
A total of 762 healthcare professionals and 353 patients were recruited. The study highlighted that over 84% of patients were familiar with generic medicines and are supportive of the concept of generic substitution. Approximately 74% of prescribers and 84% of pharmacists were supportive of generic substitution in most cases. The main areas of concern highlighted by the healthcare professionals that might impact on the successful implementation of the policy, were the issue of bioequivalence with generic medicines, the computer software systems used at present in general practitioner (GP) surgeries and the availability of branded generics. The findings from this study identify a high baseline rate of acceptance to generic medicines and generic substitution among patients, prescribers and pharmacists in the Irish setting. The concerns of the main stakeholders provide a valuable insight into the potential difficulties that may arise in its implementation, and the need for on-going reassurance and proactive dissemination of the impact of the generic substitution policy.
The existing positive attitude to generic medicines and generic substitution among key stakeholders in Ireland to generic substitution, combined with appropriate support and collaboration should result in the desired increase in rates of prescribing, dispensing and use of generic medicines.
2013年7月，《2013年医疗用品（定价与供应）法案》成为法律，规定了爱尔兰的非专利药品替代政策。本研究旨在确定利益相关者（即患者、药剂师和开处方者）对非专利药品以及随着该立法的通过对非专利药品替代的了解和看法。
设计了三份针对不同利益相关者的问卷，以评估对非专利药品和非专利药品替代的了解与看法。对患者、开处方者和药剂师的目标样本进行了分析。进行了描述性定量和定性分析。
共招募了762名医疗保健专业人员和353名患者。研究表明，超过84%的患者熟悉非专利药品，并支持非专利药品替代的概念。在大多数情况下，约74%的开处方者和84%的药剂师支持非专利药品替代。医疗保健专业人员强调的可能影响该政策成功实施的主要问题包括非专利药品的生物等效性问题、全科医生诊所目前使用的计算机软件系统以及品牌非专利药品的供应情况。本研究结果表明，在爱尔兰环境中，患者、开处方者和药剂师对非专利药品和非专利药品替代的接受率较高。主要利益相关者的担忧为实施过程中可能出现的潜在困难以及持续提供保证和积极宣传非专利药品替代政策的影响提供了宝贵的见解。
爱尔兰关键利益相关者对非专利药品和非专利药品替代现有的积极态度，再加上适当的支持与合作，应会使非专利药品的处方、配药和使用比例达到预期的增长。
