Preferences of people living with diabetes for the aspects of good pharmaceutical practice

BACKGROUND: People living with diabetes (PLD) have special needs which could be effectively and efficiently addressed at the stage of pharmaceutical care. We analyzed preferences of PLD in Kyiv for services that could be potentially implemented in a specialized pharmacy.METHODS: We used a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to elicit preferences for pharmacist’s consultation, possibility of testing, and the availability of special products. The pharmacy was described with 3 attributes having 2 levels and 2 attributes having 3 levels. The analysis is based on interviews with 98 PLD. Respondents were recruited either in the in-patient unit of Kyiv endocrinology center or through snow-ball approach between January 2012 and March 2012. The DCE part consisted of 12 choice tasks (orthogonal fractional factorial design). To reduce the number of choices per respondent, the DCE was split into two experiments of 6 choices each. Respondents were randomly assigned to either DCE. Logistic regression xtlogit was used to model DCE responses using STATA version 11.0. RESULTS: Pharmacist’s consultation regarding the use of drugs, their compatibility, and special diet was the most important choice factor among PLD (marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) was 23.38 UAH), followed by the possibility of controlling the blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels, (MWTP is 21.68 UAH) and the availability of specialized products (MWTP is 13.57 UAH). Time for purchase (including travel and waiting) did not significantly affect the choice of pharmacy.CONCLUSIONS: Respondents gave mostly meaningful answers to the DCE and the model is theoretically valid. PLD are willing to spend time on traveling to the specialized pharmacy with Good Pharmacy Practice GPP services. Conclusively, introduction of the pharmacy with special focus on PLD has good potential in Kyiv as they are ready to spend additional time and money to obtain proper services.