Abstract

PHYSICIAN SUBCONSCIOUS (PERSONAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL) FACTORS AND THEIR ROLE IN INFLUENCING PRESCRIPTION PATTERN IN DELHI NCR HEALTHCARE SETUPS: A RETROSPECTIVE CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Md. Imran Malik* and Saurabh Kala

Abstract

Objective To analyze the effect of subconscious factors (due to age, gender, number of academic degrees, foreign exposure and practice area) on price of drugs prescribed and whether they influence brand choice between Indian and non-Indian pharmaceutical companies. Materials and Methods Prescription-based, retrospective, crosssectional study where 247 prescriptions from 164 doctors were studied and analyzed extensively. Results Composite variables known as Mean Price Deviation and % OP were defined as surrogate markers for price-point estimate of the prescription and inclination towards non- Indian companies in prescription, respectively. Foreign exposure (0.156 vs 0.257 mean price deviation for no foreign exposure and exposed respectively), private practice (-0.045 v 0.212: government versus private practice), more number of degrees (0.058 v 0.134 v 0.252: one, two and three or more degrees respectively) and male gender (0.111 v 0.193: female and male respectively) were influencing doctors to write more pricey brands. Foreign exposure (0.210 vs 0.235% OP for no foreign exposure and exposed respectively), private practice (0.113 v 0.233: government versus private practice), more number of degrees (0.113 v 0.212 v 0.252: for one, two and three or more degrees respectively) and male gender (0.237 v 0.204: female and male respectively) were influencing doctors to write more non-Indian company brands in their prescriptions. Age had insignificant effect on any of the variables. Conclusion This study showed that subconscious factors arising from personal and psychological background of the doctor resulted in differing brand choices among doctors, which can be used by pharmaceutical companies to better target them.

Keywords: Prescription Pattern, Welch’s T-Test, Prescription Behavior, Subconscious Decision.