Table 2.
Survey Results.
| Items | Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Gendera | Ageb | Years of practiceb | Positiona | Responsibilitya | Place of worka |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doctors’ information on generic medicines | |||||||||||
| A generic medicine is bioequivalent to brand name medicines | 16 | 58 | 51 | 9 | 0 | .109 | .989 | .819 | .732 | .207 | .223 |
| A generic medicine must be in the same dosage form (eg, tablet, capsule) as the brand name medicine | 26 | 44 | 53 | 7 | 4 | .201 | .637 | .250 | .095 | .235 | .774 |
| A generic medicine must contain the same dose as the brand name medicines | 34 | 24 | 73 | 1 | 2 | .779 | .894 | .657 | .877 | .225 | .044 |
| Generic medicines are less effective compared with brand name medicines (r) | 1 | 12 | 29 | 77 | 15 | .036 | .437 | .030 | .029 | .073 | .924 |
| Generic medicines produce more side effects compared with brand name medicines (r) | 0 | 15 | 36 | 68 | 15 | .040 | .789 | .440 | .606 | .308 | .857 |
| Brand name medicines are required to meet higher safety standards than generic medicines (r) | 1 | 15 | 35 | 70 | 13 | .005 | .921 | .601 | .759 | .899 | .891 |
| Doctors’ attitudes and perceptions toward generics | |||||||||||
| I believe we need a standard guideline for both Doctors and pharmacists on the brand substitution process | 34 | 69 | 20 | 10 | 1 | .954 | .102 | .348 | .640 | .345 | .064 |
| I think the patient should be given enough information about generic medicines to make sure they really understand about the medicines they take | 34 | 78 | 4 | 17 | 1 | .699 | .058 | .622 | .994 | .374 | .960 |
| I believe advertisement by the drug companies will influence my future prescribing pattern | 13 | 66 | 44 | 11 | 0 | .604 | .458 | .384 | .623 | .373 | .839 |
| I need more information on the issues pertaining to the safety and efficacy of generic medicines | 36 | 73 | 19 | 6 | 0 | .817 | .608 | .394 | .650 | .966 | .379 |
| Patient’s socio-economic factor will affect my choice of medicines | 32 | 77 | 15 | 9 | 1 | .832 | .039 | .039 | .089 | .461 | .824 |
| Credibility of the manufactures/suppliers is my concern when prescribing medicines | 31 | 82 | 12 | 8 | 1 | .900 | .661 | .755 | .949 | .733 | .672 |
| Pharmaceutical companies’ product bonuses will influence my choice of medicines | 17 | 39 | 40 | 36 | 2 | .481 | .993 | .377 | .826 | .477 | .896 |
Note. P < .05 is considered significant. Bold values indicate statistical significance. r = reversed item.
a
Mann-Whitney test was used.
b
Kruskal-Wallis test was used.