This survey was administered over the Internet to 376 physician prescribers across multiple specialties, including endocrinology, oncology, nephrology and neurology. Key findings from the survey include the following:
Physicians prefer product names in references
• More than half (66 percent) of respondents refer to product names for recording information in patient charts rather than the national drug code number.
• A majority (86 percent) of respondents refer to product names rather than the NCD number for reporting adverse events.
Interchangeability can pose risks to patients
• 64 percent of surveyed physicians assume if products have the same product name, a patient can be safely switched from one product to another during treatment.
• More than 76 percent view products with the same scientific name as structurally identical.
Physicians are concerned about their patients
• 85 percent of respondents want the authority to designate a biologic medicine as “dispensed as written,” just as they have it for chemical products.
• 86 percent of physicians want to be notified before a patient is switched to a biologic other than the one prescribed, even if there are no known concerns associated with the product.
More Articles on Medication Safety:
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Patient Safety Tool: Medication Calendar
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