World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

IMPLEMENTING THERAPEUTIC SUBSTITUTION IN A BUSY TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL AND REFLECTIONS ON DISPENSING CHALLENGES FOR A YEAR LONG PERIOD.

Dr. Jayant Kumar Kairi*

ABSTRACT

It is quite common for a patient to present his prescription in a government hospital dispensary, or even in private pharmacist shop where he is dispensed a medicine that is not of the brand as prescribed. For most of the drugs in the present day, if is a rule rather than exception that there would be numerous manufacturers of the same medicine, manufacturing by their own brand names, sometimes referred to as branded generics. It is impossible to stock all medicines and all their brands. As a result, many times it is possible that the patient receives medicines that bear names different from what is written on his prescription. This practice is called ‘Therapeutic Susbstitution.’ On many occasions, there is difference in appearance of the medicines also. A discerning patient who has used the medicine for some time, doubts the correctness of dispensed medicine. This doubt or confusion has serious consequences on the therapeutic outcomes as the same may affect compliance with prescribed therapy. It takes the time, effort and ingenuity of the dispensing staff to convince the patient about the correctness of prescribed medicine as well as the importance of continuing with the prescribed medicine. In the present study the issues due to therapeutic substitution, faced by the patient and the dispensing staff have been examined.

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