A Comparative Study on the Viewpoints of the Public and Private Sectors Physicians and Pharmacists About Irrational Drug Use and Prescription in Isfahan, Iran

Due to the fact that pharmacists and physicians are the 2 key groups that configure the treatment procedure and play an important role in the management and rational use of medicine, the current study aimed at comparatively investigating the public and private sectors physicians and pharmacists about irrational drug use and prescription in Isfahan, Iran.
In the current descriptive-analytical study,351 physicians and 269 pharmacists were randomly selected. A questionnaire including 6 demographic and 46 specific questions was analyzed based on the content validity and reliability indices using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. A 5-point Likert scale was used to score the items. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the one-sample t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the Friedman test with SPSS version 21.
Based on the results obtained from the study, the factors influencing physicians and pharmacists, and irrational use and prescription of medicines were generally the same. The most important factors that shape the viewpoints of physicians and pharmacists on prescription and rational use of medicine can be the effective monitoring of the performance of physicians and pharmacists, their cooperation, paying attention to the reduction of unnecessary costs in the health sector, participation of these 2 groups in health planning, improving the quality of medical services, and promotion of rational drug use. There was no significant difference between the average factors about the viewpoints of the physicians (3.75 ± 0.139) and those of the pharmacists (3.69 ± 0.155) regarding the irrational prescription and use of medicines (P=0.35).
The physicians and pharmacists` performance monitoring and improvement through intergroup cooperation should be considered.