Table 2.

Unifying themes and contributing sub-themes from pharmacist papers

Theme	Sub-themes	Examples of contributing papers
Pharmacists’ concerns regarding patient understanding of generic medicines and substitution, patient safety and compliance with treatments	a. Patient confusion	[14, 51–53, 56, 58]
	b. Concerns regarding interchangeability	[13, 14, 51, 53, 54, 56, 58]
	c. Problems with patient compliance	[13, 51, 53, 56]
Pharmacists’ understanding of generic medicines and substitution, and pharmacists’ confidence in quality, efficacy and safety of generic medicines	a. Level of confidence in knowledge	[15, 53, 55, 56, 58]
	b. Hospital-based pharmacists versus community pharmacists	[13]
	c. Need to contact prescriber	[51]
	d. Belief that the patient prefers physician opinion	[52, 53, 58]
	e. Requirement for adverse event reporting	[54, 56]
Practical aspects of pharmacists’ practice as affected by generic medicines and substitution	a. Financial incentives by pharmaceutical industry	[13, 15, 52, 56–58]
	b. Increased pharmacist workload	[13, 51, 53, 54, 56, 58]
	c. Adverse effect on stocking levels	[14, 51, 53]
	d. Influence of industry representatives	[15, 52, 58]
Pharmacists’ suggestions to improve generic medicine use and education of stakeholders	a. General education needed	[14, 15, 52–58]
	b. Patients should have a role in medication decision	[51, 53]
	c. Need for change in prescribing patterns	[52, 53, 57, 58]