La distribution d’échantillons de médicaments est permise aux professionnels de la santé. Néanmoins, cette pratique fait l’objet de d’objections. Trois audits ont été réalisés dans notre centre depuis 2007. En 2012, 91 000 doses d’échantillons de médicaments ont été comptés dans les cliniques externes.
Le résumé se trouve ci-dessous :
Rationale: In Canada, the Food and Drug Act allow the distribution of drug samples to physicians, dentists and pharmacists. Most provincial regulatory authorities do not proscribe their distribution in healthcare settings. Drug sample use may bypass the optimal drug-use process in hospitals and retail pharmacies.
Objectives: The objective of this study is to compare the number of drug samples available in outpatient clinics in a teaching hospital in 2007, 2009 and 2012.
Study design and methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. In our hospital, drug samples were not allowed in patient wards but were tolerated in outpatient clinics. Drug samples were collected by pharmacy staff through unannounced visits. The total number of doses of drug samples was calculated in 2007, 2009 and 2012. A ratio of dose of drug samples per patient visit was also calculated.
Results: A total of number of 78955, 75487 and 91000 doses of drug samples were documented, respectively, in 2007, 2009 and 2012. The ratio of dose of drug samples per patient-visit was respectively of 0.40, 0.38 and 0.41. Only 19% of doses documented were listed on the hospital drug formulary and 4% of doses were expired. Despite the implementation of a web intranet form to declare drug samples given by industry sales representatives, most drug samples doses were not declared.
Conclusion: The number of drug samples documented in our outpatient clinics has stayed stable for five years. While it appears possible to proscribe their distribution locally in outpatient clinics, it is difficult to do so when regulatory authorities do not proscribe their distribution for a province. We believe drug samples do not contribute to better patient care and should only be dispensed by retail pharmacy through a structured approach with a documentation of doses dispensed in the patient record.
Vous pouvez consulter l’article publié dans le Journal canadien de la pharmacie hospitalière, accessible sur PubMedCentral.
Vous pouvez également consulter l’affiche présentée au congrès Professional Practice Conference (PPC) de la Société canadienne des pharmaciens d’hôpitaux les 2-6 février 2013, Toronto, Canada. Le résumé est publié dans le Journal canadien de la pharmacie hospitalière, accessible sur PubMedCentral.
URPP 