Patel Mira, Slack Marion, Cooley Janet, Bhattacharjee Sandipan
College of Pharmacy, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona USA.
J Pharm Policy Pract. 2016 Apr 21;9:17. doi: 10.1186/s40545-016-0066-6. eCollection 2016.
Consumers are hesitant in choosing generic medications as they are under the assumption that they are not as safe nor effective as brand medications. However, pharmacists do have the education and training to know that this is not the case. The aim of this study was to determine pharmacists' preference of generic versus brand over-the-counter (OTC) medication for their personal use as self-treatment for various health symptoms.
A prospective, cross sectional study was conducted on 553 licensed pharmacists who were presumed to have expertise in the use of generic and brand name OTC medications. In a single Southwestern state in the United States, from December 2014 to January 2015, a web-based questionnaire was sent to pharmacists to explore their preference of brand and generic medications based on various health symptoms. Thirty-one brand-generic medication pairs were used to identify which medication type pharmacists preferred when asked about nine health symptoms. Frequency counts of pharmacists' preference of a brand medication or a generic OTC medication overall and for each of the nine health symptoms were determined. Chi-squared analyses and one-way ANOVA were conducted to determine if there were any differences between the preferences of brand and generic OTC medications across each symptom.
The study overall showed that pharmacists preferred generic OTC medications to brand OTC medications (62 to 5 %, respectively). Based on an 11-point rating scale, pharmacists were likely to take OTC generic medications (as their choice of self-treatment) when presented with health symptoms (mean = 7.32 ± 2.88). In addition, pharmacists chose generic OTC medications over brand medications regardless of health symptoms (p < 0.001).
Pharmacists who have expertise in medications were shown to prefer using generic OTC medications rather than brand name OTC medications for self-treating a variety of health symptoms. These study findings support the theory that expertise affects preference for generic versus brand name OTC medications. This information can be used to provide consumers the evidence needed to make well-informed choices when choosing between brand and generic medications.
消费者在选择非专利药时犹豫不决，因为他们认为非专利药不如品牌药安全有效。然而，药剂师经过教育和培训，深知情况并非如此。本研究的目的是确定药剂师在个人使用非处方（OTC）药物进行自我治疗各种健康症状时，对非专利药和品牌药的偏好。
对553名有执照的药剂师进行了一项前瞻性横断面研究，这些药剂师被认为在使用非专利药和品牌名OTC药物方面具有专业知识。在美国西南部的一个州，从2014年12月到2015年1月，向药剂师发送了一份基于网络的问卷，以探讨他们基于各种健康症状对品牌药和非专利药的偏好。使用31对品牌 - 非专利药来确定当被问及九种健康症状时药剂师更喜欢哪种药物类型。确定了药剂师总体上以及针对九种健康症状中的每一种对品牌药或非专利OTC药物的偏好的频数计数。进行卡方分析和单因素方差分析，以确定在每种症状下品牌OTC药物和非专利OTC药物的偏好之间是否存在差异。
总体研究表明，药剂师更喜欢非专利OTC药物而非品牌OTC药物（分别为62%和5%）。基于11分制评分量表，当出现健康症状时，药剂师更倾向于使用非专利OTC药物（作为他们自我治疗的选择）（平均值 = 7.32 ± 2.88）。此外，无论健康症状如何，药剂师都选择非专利OTC药物而非品牌药物（p < 0.001）。
事实表明，在药物方面具有专业知识的药剂师在自我治疗各种健康症状时更喜欢使用非专利OTC药物而非品牌名OTC药物。这些研究结果支持了专业知识会影响对非专利药和品牌名OTC药物偏好的理论。这些信息可用于为消费者提供在品牌药和非专利药之间做出明智选择所需的证据。
