Improving private pharmacy practice: A multi-intervention experiment in Hanoi, Vietnam

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of a multicomponent intervention on private pharmacy practice, From 641 private pharmacies in Hanoi, 69 pharmacies were randomly selected and matched into 34 pairs. Each pair consisted of a control and an intervention pharmacy, Three interventions were applied sequentially; Regulatory enforcement, Education, and Peer influence. Four tracer conditions were selected: uncomplicated acute respiratory infection (ARI), sexually transmitted disease (STD), requesting the, prescription-only drugs prednisolone, and a short course of cefalexin. Practice was assessed through the Simulated Client Method (SCM). The intervention pharmacies improved significantly compared to the control pharmacies (P <.05) in all tracer conditions. For ARI, antibiotic dispensing decreased (P <.02) and questions regarding breathing increased (P < .01). For STD, advice to go to the doctor and dispensing the correct syndromic treatment increased (P <.01). Dispensing of prednisolone and cefalexin decreased (P <.01) and prescription requests increased (P <.01), Our conclusion is that it is possible to improve private pharmacy practice with a multicomponent intervention. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.