Impact of Direct Health Care Professional Communication (DHPC) as a Communication Tool on Health Care Professionals (HCPs) Prescribing Practice

Abstract

Background: After the drug is released in market, serious safety issues may be raised that requires an immediate regulatory action (like distribution of a Direct Health Care Professional Communication (DHPC)) to inform healthcare professionals. Despite the value of DHPC as a communication tool, its effectiveness is still under question. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of DHPC as a communication tool, the influence of DHPC on the practice and attitude of HCPs, and to detect barriers hindering the success of DHPC. Methods: A cross-sectional study surveying a random sample of 254 Health Care Professionals (HCPs) through a direct interview. Surveys were designed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and preferences of Egyptian HCPs regarding DHPCs. Results: The overall acceptance for participation was 85.5% (N = 254). The specialties participating included; 50% internists, 22.8% cardiologists, 11% neurologists, 11% pediatricians, and 5.1% from other specialties. HCPs believes that pharmaceutical companies are knowledgeable about drugs (N=254, 69.6%), have neutral opinion about knowledge of Ministry of Health (MOH) (N=254, 40.2%). They trust safety information given by the Egyptian Health Authority; Egyptian pharmaceutical Vigilance Center (EPVC) more than by the pharmaceutical industry (N=254, 77.1% and N=254, 66.1%, respectively), but they would rather prefer receiving drug safety information from both of them (N=254, 72.4%). The higher percentage of HCPs were not familiar with DHPC, however, nearly all of them affirmed that they will read DHPC if they received one. More than half of the visited HCPs claimed they were aware of the risks related to the drugs concerned in this study (N=254, 58.7%), however, they got a score of <50% in the specific questions (N=254, 53.1%),