1. Influencing factors of physicians’ prescription behavior in selecting essential medicines: a cross-sectional survey in Chinese county hospitals
- Author
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Linsheng Yang, Xu Hu, Xiaohui Huang, Xuefeng Xie, Xin Zhou, Xueting Zhang, and Aizong Shen
- Subjects
Adult ,Hospitals, County ,Male ,China ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Essential medicine ,Drug Prescriptions ,Health informatics ,Prescription behavior ,Essential medicines ,Health administration ,Physicians ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,Health care ,Humans ,Medicine ,Practice Patterns, Physicians' ,Medical prescription ,Primary Health Care ,business.industry ,Health Policy ,Nursing research ,Health care system reform ,lcsh:Public aspects of medicine ,Theory of planned behavior ,Rational administration ,Questionnaire ,lcsh:RA1-1270 ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Family medicine ,Female ,Health Facilities ,Drugs, Essential ,business ,Research Article - Abstract
Background To explore the key factors affecting prescription practices of essential medicines in Chinese county hospital. National essential medicine policy (NEMP) plays important roles in health care system, especially in developing countries. As a fundamental component in the Chinese health system reform, NEMP was implemented in primary health care institutions during the first stage of reform. As it is rolled out, priority usage and zero-mark-up policy of essential medicines are to be applied in every government-run healthcare institution. However, the intention and influence factors of physicians on priority selecting essential medicine remains unclear. Methods Based on the theory of planned behavior, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted to analyze physicians’ intention, attitude, subjective norms (SNs) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on prescrictions and their actual behavior on selection of essential medicines. Results Two hundred eighty-two physicians participated in the structural questionnaire interview. The final structural equation model reflected influencing factors affecting physicians’ prescribing behavior (χ2/df = 1.32, GFI = 0.99, IFI = 0.99). Structural equation model analysis showed that attitude, other influencers and institutional environment, and PBC significantly affected behavioral intention. However, the control extent of cognition behavior of physicians prescribing had no significant positive effect on the priority usage of essential medicines. Conclusion Investigation results demonstrate physicians are unaware of NEMP design and implementation plans. To help enhance rational use of essential medicines we suggest educating physicians on the value of NEMP, and integrating the drug shortage report into the essential medicine (EM) bidding system seamless communication with pharmaceutical manufacturers’ credit information system.
- Published
- 2019