Facteurs Associes A La Non Prescription Des Medicaments Generiques Par Le Personnel Soignant Du District De Sante De Yagoua, Region De L’extreme Nord Cameroun

Introduction: prescribing is the most common and most important medical act. By prescribing, the physician concretizes his therapeutic decisions within the framework of a fundamental principle, recognized by the law (Code of public health. Article R.4127-8), that of the freedom of prescription, principle on which rests the independence essential to the medical practice. Medicines are a strategic product because of their economic
and industrial importance. The issues related to its prescription are twofold: the pharmacovigilance and public health aspects in relation to the proper use of the drug and serious adverse effects. However, generic drugs still do not seem to have the support of the population and the medical profession. Confidence in generic drugs is
waning as a result of media scandals. In order to address concerns about bioequivalence and safety, public authorities have conducted numerous clinical studies and are trying to provide accurate answers. With this in mind, we set out to analyze the factors associated with non-prescription of generic drugs by health care personnel in the Yagoua health district, Far North Region/Cameroon.Materials and Methods: We conducted a quantitative, cross-sectional, analytical study. Participants in our study were recruited during the period November 2021 to February 2022 in twenty health facilities in the Yagoua health district. The consecutive exhaustive sample consisted of 124 health care personnel. Data were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire. It included 29 open and closed questions. Data processing was done with SPSS software version 20.0.0, the correlation between variables was evaluated using the Chi-square test with a significance level of 5%.Results: We recruited 124 caregivers. Men were the most represented (N=91; 73.38%), with a sex ratio of 2.75. Our sample consisted of 01 specialist physician (obstetrical gynecology), 22 general practitioners, 69 state- registered nurses, 06 specialist nurses (04 in anesthesia-intensive care, 02 in mental health), 10 midwives and 16 midwives. The factors associated with non-prescription of generic drugs were respectively: gender was the only variable associated with non-prescription of generic drugs (p=0.015), for general knowledge of the nursing staff. For the clinical factors, the variables associated with non-prescription of generic drugs by the nursing staff were respectively the number of years of experience and the profession of the nursing staff (p=0.03). For socio- economic factors, the variables associated with non-prescription of generic drugs were respectively gender, age and number of years of experience (p=0.0018). Finally, for the attitudes and practices of the nursing staff, the variables associated with non-prescription of generic drugs were respectively gender, age and number of years of experience (p=0.014).Conclusion: Health care staff prescribed specialty/generic brand name drugs more readily than essential generics, despite some difficulties such as not prescribing in INN. However, health care workers have confidence in generics, but are still not committed to substitution for economic reasons and are limited by certain factors. Thus, this study suggests improving access to information on generic drugs for health care personnel in the Yagoua health district, making it available, and reflecting on the new guidelines on generics at both national and peripheral levels.