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Fulltext A quantitative insight of the interactions of prescribers with pharmaceutical organization's representatives in clinical settings of Karachi

Shakeel S, Nesar S, Iffat W, Fatima B, Maqbool T, Jamshed S

Integr Pharm Res Pract, 2019;8:75-83.
PMID: 31309080 DOI: 10.2147/IPRP.S196318

Objectives: The study was conducted with the aim to evaluate the prescribers' approach of interaction with medical representatives for drug promotion. Methods: An explanatory, cross-sectional design was used to evaluate prescribers' interactions with the medical sales representatives (MSRs) through an anonymous, self-filled questionnaire from June to December 2017. Data presented as means±SEM or as percentages and statistically analyzed by one way ANOVA, using significance level of 0.05. Results: A response rate of 82.8% was achieved. More than 70% agreed that knowledge obtained from MSRs is reliable and useful. A large proportion of respondents acknowledged that MSRs are a key link between pharmaceutical companies and health care professionals, and their interactions are beneficial as MSRs perform an important teaching function. More than 45% agreed that gifts are influential; however, physicians cannot be compromised with very expensive gifts. The majority of the respondents (76%) considered that promotional items are ethically appropriate; however, 66.21% thought that promotional items influence the practice of prescribing. More than half (52.18%) deemed a promotional material more reliable than a printed advertisement. More than 80% of the respondents opined that medication samples are considered appropriate; however, they should only be given to those patients who cannot financially afford them. Around 69% thought that company-sponsored meetings promote their own drugs under the disguise of CME programs. Conclusion: The present study emphasizes the importance of employing scientifically sound prescribing decision by prescribers in their day to day practice without being influenced by pharmaceutical company's promotional activities. There is a need for restricting unprincipled practices by the concerned regulatory authorities to evade preventable harm to the patient's well-being.
Exploratory Findings of Prescribing Unlicensed and Off-Label Medicines Among Children and Neonates

Shakeel S, Iffat W, Nesar S, Zaidi H, Jamshed S

Integr Pharm Res Pract, 2020;9:33-39.
PMID: 32104664 DOI: 10.2147/IPRP.S231134

Objective: A cross-sectional study was carried out to evaluate the practice of unlicensed and off-label drug prescribing/dispensing in children and neonates by physicians and clinical pharmacists in the metropolitan city of Karachi.
Methods: The study was conducted for the duration of 5 months - November 2018 to March 2019 - in different clinics and tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan. Respondents were interviewed by our researchers using 30 items questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the answers of respondents to survey items. Pearson correlation and independent sample t-test were employed to recognize the association between the responses of participants and independent variables. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of 421 questionnaires were completed by physicians and clinical pharmacists. The mean age of the study participants was 49.5 years. Around 98% of pharmacists and 93.5% of physicians were well conversant with the definition of unlicensed and off-label drugs. Around 68% of physicians and 77% of pharmacists reported that they were more concerned about the efficacy of such drugs as compared to that of licensed medicines in children. The most frequent off-label categories observed in the study were dose (65.21%) and indication (17.52%). A vast majority (>80%) thought that approving new drugs by regulatory authorities will drop the occurrence of medication errors due to incorrect dosing. The British National Formulary (BNF) for children was used as the best reliable source of information among respondents.
Conclusion: The present study highlighted the common practice of unlicensed and off-label drug prescribing in pediatrics; however, respondents showed their concern towards decreasing such practice and are likely to welcome initiatives intended to assure medication safety in children.
Fulltext Patterns and Predictors of Off-Label Drug Prescribing in Psychiatric Practice: A Qualitative Study

Shakeel S, Nesar S, Rehman H, Jamil K, Mallick IA, Mustafa MS, et al.

Pharmacy (Basel), 2021 Dec 20;9(4).
PMID: 34941635 DOI: 10.3390/pharmacy9040203

Off-label drug prescribing (OLDP) must be based on strong scientific evidence to make sure that patients get the optimum therapeutic outcomes. Adherence to the prerequisites is determined by the physicians' attitude and knowledge. In this context, the present study was conducted with the goal of investigating psychiatrists' perceptions of the use of OLDP in their clinical practice. A total of 14 psychiatrists were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Thematic content analysis was performed. Data saturation was achieved at the 12th interview. Six major themes and fifteen subthemes emerged from qualitative interviews. Among the major themes were knowledge and concepts about the off-label drugs, attitude and current practice of prescribing off-label drugs, and rationale of prescribing and suggestions for reducing the use of off-label drugs. Almost all of the respondents interviewed provided detailed comments concerning the OLDP concept, depicted an optimistic approach and deemed that OLDP is quite common in psychiatry. Off-label usage of benzodiazepines such as clonazepam, diazepam and lorazepam in mania, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder were commonly reported. It was observed that the majority of the respondents did not inform the patients before prescribing off-label drugs. The present findings revealed that respondents had awareness; however, they depicted diverse attitudes towards prescribing off-label drugs. Further education and sensitization in regions with impoverished knowledge would certainly assist in preventing the risks associated with the use of OLDP.
Fulltext Utilization and Impact of Electronic and Print Media on the Patients' Health Status: Physicians' Perspectives

Shakeel S, Nesar S, Rahim N, Iffat W, Ahmed HF, Rizvi M, et al.

J Pharm Bioallied Sci, 2017 Oct-Dec;9(4):266-271.
PMID: 29456378 DOI: 10.4103/jpbs.JPBS_327_16

Aims: Despite an increased popularity of print and electronic media applications, there is a paucity of data reflecting doctors' opinions regarding efficient utilization of these resources for the betterment of public health. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the perception of physicians toward the effect of electronic and print media on the health status of patients.
Setting and Design: The current research is a cross-sectional study conducted from January 2015 to July 2015. The study population comprised physicians rendering their services in different hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan, selected by the nonprobability convenience sampling technique. In this study, 500 questionnaires were distributed through email or direct correspondence.
Methods and Materials: Physicians' perception toward the impact of electronic and print media on the health status of patients was assessed with a 20-item questionnaire. Different demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, institution, position, and experience of respondents, were recorded. Quantitative data were analyzed with the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 20.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). The association of the demographic characteristics of the responses of physicians was determined by one-way ANOVA using 0.05 level of significance.
Results: In this study, 254 physicians provided consent to show their responses for research purposes. A response rate of 50.8% was obtained. Nearly one-third of the respondents negated that patients get health benefit using electronic and print media. The majority did not consider electronic and print media as lifestyle-modifying factors. Physicians thought that patients particularly do not rely on mass media for acquiring health information and consider healthcare professionals as unswerving information resource.
Conclusions: Mass media can be productive resources to augment awareness among patients, although physicians seem unconvinced about the extended usage of print/electronic media.