Acceptability of a short list of essential medicines to patients and prescribers: Multimethod study.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the acceptability of providing free access to only a short list of medicines used in the Carefully seLected and Easily Accessible at No charge Medications (CLEAN Meds) trial.

DESIGN

A multimethod explanatory sequential design including interviews with trial participants and focus groups with prescribers.

SETTING

Ontario.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants in the intervention arm of the CLEAN Meds trial and primary care providers who prescribed medicines to those in the intervention arm of the trial.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The number of trial participants in each prescription category (ie, prescribed no off-list medicine, prescribed 1 off-list medicine, or prescribed 2 or more off-list medicines) and the acceptability of the list to both participants and prescribers.

RESULTS

There were 395 participants in the intervention group of the CLEAN Meds trial, but 16 participants withdrew consent or were not prescribed any medicines during the first 12 months of the trial, resulting in a total of 379 participants in the quantitative component of this study. Of the 2648 total prescriptions, 2349 (89%) were for medications that were on or had an equivalent covered by the list. Random sampling was used to select 5 participants to interview from each prescription category. A total of 19 prescribers participated in the focus groups. Themes from participant interviews included the following: having access to medicines on the list was a relief, participants trusted health care professionals to switch medicines and to decide which medicines should be on a publicly funded list, and a short list of essential medicines should be publicly funded. Major themes from the prescribers' focus groups related to the process of developing the list, support for the list, and publicly funding a short list of essential medicines in Canada.

CONCLUSION

The consensus among trial participants and prescribers is that the short list of medicines used in the trial is comprehensive and provides access to medicines commonly prescribed.