Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17053
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: Journal Article
Idris KM, Yousif MA, Mustafa AF
Influence of pharmaceutical industry's promotion on the doctors' prescribing patterns in Sudan
The Journal of Medicine Use in Developing Countries 2009; 1:(3):3- 13
www.usm.my/dsap/journal/article/disember2009/Article2.pdf
Abstract:
This study was a part of an inclusive and first attempt for the determination of the impact of pharmaceutical promotion on medical practice in Sudan. It is a cross sectional prospective study. Approved and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire was designed to elicit the demographic characteristics as well as the general views, opinions and perceptions of doctors on the impact of the pharmaceutical industries’ promotional activities on their prescribing patterns. The population of this study composed of 600 interviewed doctors of different specialties, working in different health settings in Sudan. The study showed a high doctors’ acceptance to medical representatives’ visits (89.9%) and 48.1% preferred the group meeting style of promotion. The study revealed that almost all of the respondents (95.5%) admitted the value of the pharmaceutical information provided to them by the medical representatives; only 13.7% denied the positive influence of information on their prescribing patterns. Of the interviewed doctors, 23.5% asserted that they did not receive balanced scientific information. The majority of doctors (83.7%) showed a tendency of having large quantities of samples. Unlike many other countries, the medical representative job in Sudan is wholly dominated by pharmacists; this was strongly supported by the majority of respondents (78.0%). A set of recommendations was proposed to guide the formulation of national guidelines and policies to help rectify and get the maximum benefits of pharmaceutical promotion in Sudan.
Keywords:
Influence, Pharmaceutical promotion, Prescribing pattern, Sudan.
