Misconceptions and pressures have increased the sales of antibiotics without a prescription across countries. There are concerns with such practices in Vietnam given rising antimicrobial resistance rates. A national survey was conducted among 360 private drugstores located in nine provinces in Vietnam. Anonymous interviews were conducted with participants selected by convenience sampling. Subsequently, multivariable logistic regression analyses were undertaken evaluating the relationship between customer characteristics and antibiotic purchases. A total of 480 out of 1626 surveyed participants purchased antibiotics, 81.7% of which did not have a prescription, involving 29 different antibiotics. In 86.4% of these, participants were prescribed antibiotics by drug sellers. Most antibiotics were sold to treat respiratory tract infections (61.4%), with the ‘Access’ antibiotics (amoxicillin and cephalexin) being the most frequently sold. Only one-fifth of participants understood that they were breaking the law by purchasing antibiotics without a prescription. Participants purchasing antibiotics without a prescription had lower awareness concerning antibiotic laws and treatment duration (p < 0.05). Under 50% agreed to having a doctors’ prescription in the future when purchasing antibiotics. Freelancer occupation (OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.83–0.96) and a lower educational level (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.25–0.96) were factors related to purchasing antibiotics without a prescription. Overall, we recommend increasing fines and monitoring of drugs stores, greater promotion of the family doctor system as well as increasing media and educational campaigns to limit self-purchasing of antibiotics in Vietnam and reduce resistance.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought forward an unprecedented situation, which has forced the educational institutes worldwide to use a propriety “online only” model for teaching and learning. Teachers have been compelled to deliver lectures online using some form of an online delivery platform. In this dilemma situation with the closure of the educational institutes, one of the very basic necessities is to ensure quality features of e-learning systems that are being used for the purpose of education delivery, particularly from the students’ perspective. The objective of this study was to identify factors affecting pharmacy students’ satisfaction in Vietnam during the COVID 19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey of a consecutive sample of 1612 valid responses from students who have been in distance learning at Hanoi University of Pharmacy has been conducted. An integrated model with three main dimensions had been developed: learner’s characteristics; instructor’s characteristics; system, and technology. Data were collected in the field on both online and offline platforms using the questionnaire of 39 items to investigate the critical factors affecting learners’ satisfaction in e-learning. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured using Cronbach’s alpha on this data. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis were employed for data analysis. Out of 2491 questionnaires distributed, 1612 questionnaires were completed (respond rate 64.7%). The results revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, system and technical dimension and instructors’ characteristics are the critical factors affecting learners’ perceived satisfaction. The perceived usefulness of the students was the most important factor affecting overall satisfaction (beta coefficient = 0.610). Multiple regression analysis yielded the four main factors explaining 59.9% of total satisfaction. The findings revealed how to improve learners’ satisfaction and further strengthen their e-learning implementation. The interventional solutions on students’ characteristics, instructors’ characteristics and system & technical dimension should be considered and implemented to improve the quality of e-learning and students’ satisfaction at Hanoi University of Pharmacy.

Background and Aims: Patient satisfaction is a critical metric for assessing the quality of pharmaceutical services in healthcare systems. This study aims to build a questionnaire with various items to comprehensively evaluate patient satisfaction with pharmacy services at the 108 Military Central Hospital and to identify key influential factors in their perception. Methods: The cross‐sectional survey was conducted from August 2023 to October 2023. The face and content validity were assessed by experts. The questionnaire's internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and construct validity (exploratory factor analysis) were explored. Multivariate linear regression was used to seek determinants. Results: A total of 457 patients were included for synthesis. The final version of the questionnaire, which had 22 items grouped into four factors (attitude and professional capacity of pharmacy staff, accessibility and transparency, services performed, and infrastructure), showed high consistency and validity. General satisfaction was average (4.09 (SD = 0.628) out of a maximum score of five), with the factor having the lowest score of pharmacist consultants and drug prices despite being the leading national hospital. However, the two factors having the most substantial influence coefficient on satisfaction were the infrastructure (0.433), pharmacy attitude, and professional capacity (0.386). Conclusion: The findings based on the comprehensive questionnaire with 22 items grouped into four factors showed that there were available determinants that needed improvement. Enhancing the quality of the strongest impact aspects of patient satisfaction should be done comprehensively and synchronously. In the case of limited resources, prioritizing actions in phases of time could make them more actionable and beneficial.

Objectives: To evaluate cost-effectiveness of lenvatinib compared with sorafenib as first-line treatment in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients in Vietnam from a perspective of the public third-party payer. Methods: A three-health state partitioned survival model was developed to compare costs and health outcomes of lenvatinib and sorafenib in unresectable advanced HCC patients over a 10-year time horizon, using a cycle length of 28-day. Clinical data on efficacy and safety of lenvatinib and sorafenib from the REFLECT trial was used to extrapolate outcomes beyond the follow-up period, while medication costs and health care resources were estimated based on local data and clinical experts’ consultations. A discount rate of 3% was applied to both costs and outcomes. Parameter uncertainty was explored using one-way sensitivity analysis and probabilistic sensitivity analysis. The impact of different time horizons and different approaches to extrapolate survival time were examined in scenario analyses. Results: In unresectable HCC patients, lenvatinib gained more 0.28 life-years (LYs) equaling to 0.21 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) compared with sorafenib. Without consideration of reimbursement rate for all medications and co-insurance, usage of lenvatinib led to an increase of 3,451.3 USD. Therefore, lenvatinib was not cost-effective compared with sorafenib, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of 16,114.5 USD/QALY. However, if lenvatinib was reimbursed at the same rate as sorafenib (50%), it became cost-effective, with an ICER of 8,307.6 USD/QALY. Results from the base-case analysis were robust in different sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: With a significant improvement in progression-free survival, lenvatinib gained more LYs and QALYs compared with sorafenib. At the same reimbursement rate of sorafenib of 50%, lenvatinib was cost-effective from the perspective of the third-party payer.

The study aimed to investigate the determinants of pharmacy postgraduates’ satisfaction to suggest essential recommendations to enhance educational quality at Hanoi University of Pharmacy in Vietnam. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 202 postgraduates using structured questionnaires, with 31 multidimensional questions and 1 question addressing overall satisfaction. Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate the questionnaire’s internal consistency, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified key factors, and multiple linear regression analysis was applied to assess the impact of these factors. Overall satisfaction had a high mean score of 4.49 out of 5 (SD = 0.602). The final 29 questions were retained and divided into four main factors affecting satisfaction after rotating EFA. The dimension of “Support and Evaluation” was the most influential factor (β = 0.475), followed by “Training Organization”, “Facilities and Library”, and “Lecturers and Curriculum”. The variables with the lowest scores needed much more attention, including digital systems (4.2, SD = 0.852), information technology support (4.32, SD = 0.772), activities boosting lifelong learning skills (4.48, SD = 0.624), and the reasonability of the education program’s structure (4.48, SD = 0.608) and the studying program’s schedule (4.45, SD = 0.607). The findings indicate the issues that should be addressed, and have highlighted that improvements in electronic library accessibility and updated curricula are also recommended to further optimize the educational experience of postgraduate students.