Programming Modification of Drug Consumption Pattern Based on Religious Teachings, National Interests, and Attention to Deprived People

Drug consumption in Iran is higher than the global standards due to irrational prescriptionand self-medication practices. On one hand, it losses the national capital directly and indirectly and, on the other hand, threatens community health; therefore, it is essential to employ all the capacities to modify the current pattern.
In the current study, factors influencing drug use were extracted by reviewing literature, interviewing experts, and analyzing the data by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique. Then, by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, the strategies for modifying drug consumption patterns were developed in consensus sessions between experts and authors. The statistical population of the study included all physicians, pharmacists, pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers, and a sample of 30 individuals was selected by the snowball sampling method.
The analyses showed that lack of monitoring on the diagnosis and prescribing system, lack of a comprehensive referral system, lack of monitoring on medication distribution, physician visit cost, advice from others, buy without a prescription from pharmacies, irrational prescriptions, an experience of a disease and its diagnosis, the cultural context of patients and their insistence on taking more drugs, financial relationship between the doctor and the patient, lack of knowledge about side effects of drugs, distribution of drugs in stores other than pharmacies, and safety and low price of medicines could be considered as the main causes of irrational drug use.
To modify the drug consumption pattern, it is necessary to modify culture, set up a referral system, expand insurance, educate medical staff continuously, and monitor medicine supply chain and prescription patterns.