Cent Eur J Public Health 2012, 20(4):276-281 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3727

What Polish hospital healthcare workers and lay persons know about counterfeit medicine products?

Monika Binkowska-Bury¹, Maja Wolan¹, Paweł Januszewicz², Artur Mazur¹, Zbigniew E. Fijałek²

¹ Institute of Nursing and Health Sciences, Medical Department, University of Rzeszow, Poland

² National Medicines Institute, Warsaw, Poland

Aim: To report on Polish hospital health care workers' and lay persons' knowledge about counterfeit medicine products.

Materials and methods: Cross-sectional design was used. Two types of questionnaire survey about counterfeit medicine, separate for health care professionals and lay persons were completed by 201 physicians and nurses, and 450 adult Polish residents between October 2008 and January 2009.

Results: Physicians and nurses working in hospitals are more aware of counterfeit medicine than lay persons and more often notice the presence of drugs from unknown sources. Nearly 90% of physicians, 80% of nurses, and more than 40% of representatives of the lay persons had heard about the possibility of importing illegal medicine from Ukraine or China. The majority of medical workers does not know the procedure for reporting suspicious medicine and do not warn their patients against purchasing medicine from unknown sources.

Conclusions: Increase education of nurses and physicians about counterfeit medicine particularly including the procedure of reporting suspicious medicine from unknown sources. In practice, reinforce a role of nurses and physicians in warning their patients against purchasing medicine from unknown sources and educate them about possible health hazards and life risks.

Keywords: counterfeit medicine, nurses, physicians, lay persons, hospital

Received: September 20, 2011; Revised: November 8, 2012; Accepted: November 8, 2012; Published: December 1, 2012  Show citation