Pharmacy Personnel In Hawassa, A Facility Based Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Knowledge, attitude and practice on generic medicine among community pharmacy clients’ and pharmacy personnel in Hawassa; a facility based cross sectional study. Muluwork Sahile Addis Ababa University, 2013. Rational use of generic medicines can provide substantial savings in health care cost of government, patients and insurance funds without affecting the therapeutic effect of the medicine. However, studies in different countries indicated that poor knowledge and negative attitude towards generic medicine among clients and pharmacy personnel is the most challenging barriers for the use of generic medicines. So this thesis assessed knowledge, attitude and practice on generic medicine and associated factors among community pharmacy clients’ and pharmacy personnel in Hawassa. A facility based cross sectional study was conducted from April 2012 to September 2012 at all community pharmacies of Hawassa. Six hundred sixty two study participants were selected from six community pharmacies based on the average number of prescription filled each day. In-depth interview was also conducted with pharmacy personnel working in community pharmacies, drug shops, hospital pharmacy, whole sale, FMHACA and health bureau. The result showed that only 22.4% of clients’ were knowledgeable about generic medicine while most pharmacy personnel had good knowledge of generic medicines. Barely 32 % of clients have positive attitude towards generic medicines and over one in three of clients and pharmacy personnel had distrust on generic medicine approval system of Ethiopia. Majority (72.4%) of the clients had ever used generic medicines. Age and educational status were shown to be significant predictors of knowledge on generic medicine. Age, educational status and experience with generic medicines had a strong and positive association with attitude. The use of generic medicine was found to be significantly associated with respondents’ education, knowledge, attitude and recommendation from pharmacy personnel.