title: [Acceptance of replacement by generic medicines at community pharmacies].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyse the acceptance of the replacement of patent medicines by generic medicines at community pharmacies and to study the variability of the answers in terms of the characteristics of the user, prescription and community pharmacy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational, cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community pharmacies in Albacete and its province, Spain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive selection of 769 users in 21 pharmacies during February 2005.
  
  
  METHODS
  Users of community pharmacies who were asked to replace a prescribed drug by a generic one when the prescribed one was unavailable. The proposals were recorded in a register and the data were processed with the SPSS statistical package.
  
  
  RESULTS
  90.8% of the population accepted the replacement (n=698; 95% CI, 88.5%-92.7%). The main cause of non-acceptance was that the patient did not want changes in his/her medical prescription (50.7%). The acceptance of the change was inversely proportional to the age of the patient (P=.005) and directly proportional to the number of inhabitants of the population centre where the pharmacy was located (P< .001). Non-acceptance was higher for "fantasy brands" than generic ones (P=.005), in repeated treatments versus first-time prescriptions (P< .001) and in free prescriptions versus those involving a contribution (P=.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high acceptance of replacement by generic drugs in community pharmacies (90.8%) was seen. The main cause of non-acceptance of the replacement was because the patient did not want any changes in the prescription.
authors.affiliation: Oficina de Farmacia, Albacete, España. fhonru@ono.com
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Honrubia Alujer
authors.forename: José Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Carbajal de Lara
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cebrián Picazo
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cuéllar Bolas
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Silvestre Molina
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Merino Campos
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: López-Torres Hidalgo
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gascón Escribano
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martínez Tebar
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cano Verdejo
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Andrés Cifuentes
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Salar Pomares
authors.forename: Ester
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gómez Escribano
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giménez Benítez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016568:Drugs, Generic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D016568:Drugs, Generic