Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.
J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2023 Nov;45(11):102178. doi: 10.1016/j.jogc.2023.06.009. Epub 2023 Jun 29.
Mifepristone/misoprostol (mife/miso) has been approved in Canada since 2017, and is available since 2018. Mife/miso does not require witnessed administration in Canada, and therefore most patients obtain a prescription for home use. We sought to determine the proportion of pharmacies in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, a city of over 500 000, that had combination mife/miso in stock at any given time.
A mystery-caller approach was used to survey all pharmacies (n = 218) in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada between June 2022 and September 2022.
Of the 208 pharmacies that were successfully contacted, only 13 (6%) pharmacies had mife/miso in stock. The most commonly cited reasons for the medication being unavailable were low patient demand (38%), cost (22%), lack of familiarity with medication (13%), supplier issues (9%), training requirements (8%), and medication expiry (7%).
These findings suggest that while mife/miso has been available in Canada since 2017, significant barriers remain to patients accessing this medication. This study clearly demonstrates a need for further advocacy and clinician education to ensure mife/miso is accessible to the patients who require it.
米非司酮/米索前列醇（米非司酮/米索前列醇）自 2017 年在加拿大获得批准，并于 2018 年开始供应。在加拿大，米非司酮/米索前列醇不需要见证给药，因此大多数患者获得在家使用的处方。我们旨在确定安大略省汉密尔顿市（拥有超过 50 万人口）的药店在任何特定时间有组合米非司酮/米索前列醇库存的比例。
采用神秘电话访问的方法，于 2022 年 6 月至 9 月期间调查了安大略省汉密尔顿市的所有药店（n=218）。
在成功联系的 208 家药店中，只有 13 家（6%）药店有米非司酮/米索前列醇库存。药物不可用的最常见原因是患者需求低（38%）、成本高（22%）、对药物不熟悉（13%）、供应商问题（9%）、培训要求（8%）和药物过期（7%）。
这些发现表明，尽管米非司酮/米索前列醇自 2017 年在加拿大上市以来，患者获得这种药物仍然存在重大障碍。本研究清楚地表明，需要进一步倡导和临床医生教育，以确保需要的患者能够获得米非司酮/米索前列醇。
