| dc.description.abstract | The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of brand perceived quality on the choice of prescription drugs by doctors. The study was done at Kenyatta national hospital where the data was collected from doctors from different departments in the hospital. Stratified sampling was used to as a sampling technique where the data was collected from the respondents using questionnaires. The questionnaire contained both closed and open -ended questions.
The study found out that a majority of the respondents were in lower management comprising, majority of the respondents rated perceived quality as being important as a requirement on the choice of drugs, the various factors of brand perceived quality on choice of drugs considered very effective were country of origin, price, inclusion in hospital formulary, launch, comments from peers, wide availability, number of years in the market, experience with other products from the same firm, tender participation, severity of conditions for which the drug is used and presentations made by medical representatives.
Other factors that were shown to affect brand perceived quality on choice of prescription drugs were direct detailing to the health care providers, performing a major launch of drug, marketing to the key account managers (key decision makers in hospitals, institutions, therapeutic committees, etc), direct physician contact with pharmaceutical sales representatives and designing an optimal sales force to sell a particular portfolio of drugs to the target customers.
The study recommends that there is need for drug inspectorate and promotional strategies on safeguarding the perceived quality of drugs. This can be used to counter the adverse effects of unethical promotional activities in the pharmacy industry and promote the concept of perceived quality | en_US |
