Browsing by Subject "interview"
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(2023)In pharmaceutical sciences the pharmaceutical supply chain is often examined from a quality perspective. As the world is becoming more uncertain due to pandemics and conflicts the societal and political situation where the supply chain operates should be considered. Understanding the big picture helps to consider the cause and effect that lead to medicinal shortages. Effects of these shortages can be seen on every level of the supply chain from the manufacturer to the patient, which is why actors on the supply chain can benefit from understanding the background factors. The aim of the master’s thesis was to examine, whether pharmaceutical field actors could affect realisation of geopolitical risks by preparation and examination that the pharmacotherapy would not be interrupted. Second aim was to bring forward political and societal aspects to pharmaceutical availability which are often side-lined by quality aspects in pharmaceutical context. The study was conducted as a qualitative semi-structured interview between October 2022 and February 2023. Participants (n=11) were recruited via e-mail using representative sampling. Due to recruitment problems, convenience sampling was also used. Questions presented to the interviewees were depending on the group (n=3) they were assigned. Term ”geopolitics” was associated mainly with political and economic factors. Main geopolitical risks for Finland were seen to be small market size and distant location. For Europe, the risks were centralisation of manufacturing (and dependence) to Asia due to economic factors and long disruption-prone supply chain. Transport of pharmaceuticals from Asia to Europe was with sea and air cargo. Inside Europe, transport to Finland was with mainly with lorries utilising ferries. Rail transport was mentioned to be used only on one interview. The transport routes were seen to be staying the same in the future both for Asia-Europe and Europe-Finland. Even though risk management is an important part of functioning of every company, the change in the type of risks requires a new mindset in the pharmaceutical field both from the individual actors as well as international organisations. From risk of strikes and natural disasters we have moved to trade wars, pandemic restrictions, and the strategic acting of industries critical to society. At the same time, the ability/willingness of societies to pay for pharmaceuticals is decreasing, which leads to the manufacturers to find new ways to ensure business.
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(2021)Obesity is a growing health challenge in Finland. Despite the fact, that obesity is recognized as a chronic disease, it remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. In the past few years, two new anti-obesity drugs have entered the market to support the lifestyle changes Anti-obesity medication would be a natural option to support lifestyle changes, but physicians have not widely adopted the medication in their treatment patterns. The aim of this study was to understand, what are the abilities of primary care physician (PCP) to treat obesity, considering their knowledge, resources and, local care pathways. In addition, the study sought to determine the most important factors, that are involved in the initiation of anti-obesity medication. The study was conducted as a semi-structured thematic interview. A total of nine PCPs from all over Finland were interviewed for the study. Of these, three worked on the private sector and six on the public sector. The interviews were conducted during October-November 2020. The framework of the interviews was built based on the previous studies and information within a pharmaceutical company specializing in the treatment of obesity. The content was analysed with inductive content analysis. PCPs interested in the treatment of obesity raised the topic of weight quite easily in various situations and some of them mentioned that they even find it easy to bring up the subject. However, the subject is mainly brought up when the patient already has some weight-related comorbidities. Preventively, weight is less often talked about, especially because of a lack of human and time resources. Currently the most comprehensive care pathways and interdisciplinary teams are in occupational healthcare. In occupational healthcare, resources are perceived as adequate and the interdisciplinary teams works well. In most healthcare centers, a separate care pathway for the treatment of obesity had not been built. In general, knowledge of the obesity treatment was considered adequate, but education on the biological basis of obesity is needed. Most of the PCPs knew about the new anti-obesity drugs and had positive attitude towards them, but they did not prescribe the drugs themselves. The most significant barrier to prescribe the anti-obesity drugs, was the price of the products and the lack of reimbursement. In addition, experience with anti-obesity drugs is limited and the need for education is high. Currently, occupational health physicians have better abilities to treat obesity in terms of care pathways, interdisciplinary teams and, resources than PCPs in public healthcare. The conditions are also better for the implementation of pharmacotherapy as resources and care pathways enables proper lifestyle guidance alongside pharmacotherapy. Prior to reimbursement, pharmacotherapy may not be a realistic option in the public sector, and the conditions for proper lifestyle guidance alongside pharmacotherapy are not sufficient in all locations.
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(2012)In pharmaceutical industry GMP compliance and quality of operations can be ensured with quality management system (QMS). QMS is an operational system, which consist of multiple different elements depending on the size of the company and nature and complexity of its operations. For the QMS to be functional, documented and defined operations need to be managed and monitored systematically. Conducting internal audits has been considered necessary with regard to QMS, though it has not always been perceived as adding value or seen as an opportunity to utilise more fully. Internal audits are mainly utilized to control compliance to requirements. However, there are possibilities to utilise it more in improving and developing operations, preparation to external audits, quality risk assessment, finding out the best practices, basis for decision making, learning experience as well as the assessment of functionality and effectiveness of the QMS. The aim of this study was to examine the utilisation of internal audits in Orion (Espoo) and find solutions to improve the utilisation of internal audits with QMS. The focus was on how internal audits can monitor and guide QMS and what is required from internal audits for monitoring and guidance of QMS. These aims were approached qualitatively by conducting semi-standardized open-ended interviews. Interviewees (n=9) were selected from both auditor and auditee side and they had their background in quality assurance or production. Data compiled from these interviews was analysed mainly by qualitative methods, using also some quantitative analysis. Monitoring of the QMS can be looked at as the starting point to guide QMS. Valuable information can be gathered with internal audits with regard to QMS. By utilising this information, internal audit process and QMS can be improved and the quality of operations can be ensured. Based on this work internal audits can be utilised to monitor and have the potential to guide QMS under certain conditions. Internal audit topics need to be systematically selected, QMS needs to be monitored and guided based on the internal audit findings, flow and distribution of information needs to be efficient and flexible, and internal audits should be better utilised and managed. Further research is needed on the development and deployment of tools to aid better utilisation of internal audits in the control of QMS. Also ways to measure the effects of internal auditing should be further investigated.
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