A Factors Influencing Compliance with Regulation on the Second Stage of the Good Pharmacy Practice among Drugstores in Bangkok

Abstract

Objective: To determine the factors influencing compliance with the regulation on the stage 2 of the Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) among drugstores in Bangkok. Methods: This survey research collected data from a convenient sample of 108 pharmacy owners or practicing pharmacists using online or mail questionnaires, and telephone interviews between December 2020 and February 2021. The questionnaire developed by the researchers to collect general information of drugstores and difficulty in complying with the regulation on the stage 2 of the GPP with 4 domains including premises, equipment, personnel, and GPP. Results: 44.44% of subjects were pharmacy owners who were also practicing pharmacists. The majority of drugstores were located on the main road (39.8%) with 2 or less competitors (63.9%), having operated for less than 3 years (49.1%), having more than 45 m² of space (35.2%). Most drugstores opened 7 days per week (69.4%), having business hour was not more than 12 hours per day (63.9%) with monthly income of 200,000 to 500,000 baths (37.0%). Their funding for refurbishment to meet the criteria was less than 50,000 baht (31.5%). Most of the drugstores had passed the full GPP assessment (77.8%). Pharmacies could easily comply with all 4 domains of the Criteria (mean score of 1.33±0.57, with 3 = very difficult to implement and 1 = easy to implement). Number of competitors, status on GPP assessment, number of years in operation, and funding for refurbishment to meet the Criteria were statistically significant predictors of the stage 2 of GPP compliance (P = 0.002, 0.012, 0.015 and 0.007, respectively). Conclusion: Efforts to encourage pharmacies to comply with the stage 2 of GPP requirements should target at drugstores with more than 2 competitors, those requiring the stage 2 GPP assessment, those operating for more than 7 years and those requiring more than 200,000 baht for renovation in order to pass the Criteria.