Abstract
Generic medicines have great quality and efficacy and also available at low cost. The inappropriate knowledge of health care professionals is lowering its use. Our aim was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of community pharmacists towards generic medicines in Punjab, Pakistan. A cross sectional survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire on 528 community pharmacies. Demographic characteristic and response were represented as percentages. Multivariate logistic regression was used to model the adequateknowledge, attitude and practices. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 528 participants (54.5% males and 45.5% females) completed the survey. Respondents having Pharm-D qualification had greater odds of having good knowledge (OR=6.732, CI= 2.293-19.766). Qualification (p < 0.001), employment on pharmacy (p = 0.02) and working experience (p < 0.001) had significant impact on the knowledge of community pharmacists regarding generic medicine.B-Pharmacy qualification had higher odds of having positive attitudes (2.570, CI=1.031-6.403). Qualification (p=0.04) also had significant impact on the attitude of the community pharmacists regarding generic medicine. Respondents having government educational institution had greater odds of having good practices (OR = 2.965, CI = 1.388-6.329). Government educational institution (p = 0.005) and employment (p = 0.002) significantly affected the practice of the community pharmacists. Inadequate knowledge (C.I. = 0.295-0.779) and negative attitudes (C.I. = 0.066-0.159) negatively and significantly affected the practice of community pharmacists regarding generic medicine. Community pharmacists had sufficient knowledge about generic medicines. However, there are some gaps in their attitudes which are leading to the development of negative practices.