Table 2. Comparison of participant characteristics with knowledge and perception of rational medicine use.
| Characteristic | RUM Knowledge | RUM Perception | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good n (%) | Poor n (%) | *p-value | Good n (%) | Neutral n (%) | Poor n (%) | δp-value | |
| Drug bulletin as reference | 0.174 | 0.169 | |||||
| Yes | 99 (68.3) | 46 (31.7) | 125 (86.5) | 10 (6.9) | 10 (6.9) | ||
| No | 27 (57.5) | 20 (42.6) | 39 (83.0) | 7 (14.9) | 1 (2.1) | ||
| STG as reference | 0.001 | 0.315 | |||||
| Yes | 100 (72.5) | 38 (27.5) | 121 (87.7) | 10 (7.2) | 7 (5.1) | ||
| No | 26 (48.2) | 28 (51.9) | 43 (79.6) | 7 (13.0) | 4 (7.4) | ||
| BNF as reference | 0.001 | 0.609 | |||||
| Yes | 67 (77.9) | 19 (22.1) | 74 (86.0) | 6 (7.0) | 6 (7.0) | ||
| No | 59 (55.7) | 47 (44.3) | 90 (84.9) | 11 (10.4) | 5 (4.7) | ||
| Medscape as reference | 0.057 | 0.046 | |||||
| Yes | 58 (73.4) | 21 (26.6) | 66 (83.5) | 11 (13.9) | 2 (2.5) | ||
| No | 68 (60.2) | 45 (39.8) | 98 (86.7) | 6 (5.3) | 9 (8.0) | ||
| Reference source accessible | 0.323 | 0.026 | |||||
| Yes | 89 (67.9) | 42 (32.1) | 118 (90.1) | 8 (6.1) | 5 (3.8) | ||
| No | 37 (60.7) | 24 (39.3) | 46 (75.4) | 9 (14.8) | 6 (9.8) | ||
| Drug bulletin updates | 0.001 | 0.007 | |||||
| Never | 35 (64.8) | 19 (35.2) | 48 (88.9) | 5 (9.3) | 1 (1.9) | ||
| Quarterly | 45 (69.2) | 20 (30.8) | 60 (92.3) | 2 (3.1) | 3 (4.6) | ||
| Monthly | 34 (82.9) | 7 (17.1) | 36 (87.8) | 3 (7.3) | 2 (4.9) | ||
| Annually | 12 (37.5) | 20 (62.5) | 20 (62.5) | 7 (21.9) | 5 (15.6) | ||
| Age (years) | 0.934 | 0.456 | |||||
| 20–25 | 13 (61.9) | 8 (38.1) | 16 (76.2) | 4 (19.0) | 1 (4.8) | ||
| 26–35 | 62 (64.6) | 34 (35.4) | 83 (86.5) | 7 (7.3) | 6 (6.3) | ||
| 36–45 | 39 (67.2) | 19 (32.8) | 52 (89.7) | 3 (5.2) | 3 (5.2) | ||
| 45–55 | 12 (70.6) | 5 (29.4) | 13 (76.5) | 3 (17.6) | 1 (5.9) | ||
| Level of Hospital | 0.047 | 0.284 | |||||
| Primary | 118 (67.8) | 56 (32.2) | 149 (85.6) | 14 (8.0) | 11 (6.3) | ||
| Secondary | 8 (44.4) | 10 (55.6) | 15 (83.3) | 3 (16.7) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| Type of prescriber | 0.001 | 0.011 | |||||
| Doctor | 37 (78.7) | 10 (21.3) | 46 (97.9) | 1 (2.1) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| Medical intern | 3 (42.9) | 4 (57.1) | 5 (62.5) | 3 (37.5) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| Physician assistant | 41 (73.2) | 15 (26.8) | 48 (85.7) | 4 (7.1) | 4 (7.1) | ||
| Physician assistant intern | 23 (76.7) | 7 (23.3) | 25 (86.2) | 3 (10.3) | 1 (3.4) | ||
| Nurse | 17 (47.2) | 19 (52.8) | 28 (77.8) | 5 (13.9) | 3 (8.3) | ||
| Others | 5 (31.3) | 11 (68.7) | 12 (75.0) | 1 (6.3) | 3 (18.8) | ||
| Years of experience | 0.167 | 0.172 | |||||
| ≤3 years | 63 (65.6) | 33 (34.4) | 75 (78.1) | 11 (11.5) | 10 (10.4) | ||
| >3–6 years | 20 (58.8) | 14 (41.2) | 32 (94.1) | 2 (5.9) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| >6–10 years | 22 (59.5) | 15 (40.5) | 34 (91.9) | 2 (5.4) | 1 (2.7) | ||
| >10 years | 21 (84.0) | 4 (16.0) | 23 (92.0) | 2 (8.0) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| State of DTC | 0.004 | 0.394 | |||||
| Functional | 39 (83.0) | 8 (17.0) | 43 (91.5) | 2 (4.3) | 2 (4.3) | ||
| Nonfunctional | 86 (59.7) | 58 (40.3) | 121 (83.4) | 15 (10.3) | 9 (6.2) | ||
RUM = rational use of medicine; DTC = drugs and therapeutic committee; STG = standard treatment guidelines; BNF = British National Formulary
*p-value was determined using the chi-squared statistic.
δp-value was determined using Fisher’s exact test