Knowledge, Perception, and Practice of Generic Medicine and Associated Factors among Community Pharmacists in Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Good knowledge of Generic medicines (GM) among healthcare professionals including pharmacists improves the effective usage of generic medicine among patients and thus reduces their healthcare costs. The objective of this study is to assess knowledge of GM among community pharmacists in the Jaffna district of Sri Lanka. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among all community pharmacists in the Jaffna district using a self-administered questionnaire. SPSS version 26 was used to analyze data. Independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to assess the relationship between sociodemographic and workrelated factors and knowledge of GM among community pharmacists at the 95% confidence interval and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Fifty nine pharmacists (88%) were responded to the study. The median age of pharmacists was 42 years (IQR=23) and 59.32% of them were males. The total score for knowledge of generic medicine was 55. The mean score of knowledge on generic medicine was 33.27±13.1. Age (p=0.04), professional qualification (p=0.033), and participation in the workshop (p=0.020) had significant differences with knowledge of GM. Most of the pharmacists selected generic substitutes based on the customer’s request (94.9%), followed by the quality of the generic medicine (67.8%) and familiarity of generic brands (61%). Community pharmacists lack knowledge and negatively inclined perception of GM. However, most pharmacists practice generic substitutions during dispensing. Conducting continuous professional development programs and workshops regularly and upgrading their professional qualifications to diploma or degree from certificate level could improve not only their knowledge of generic medicines but also good dispensing practice.