從消費者行為探討:如何在台灣推廣非處方藥之研究

The Study of Non-prescription Drug Promotion in Taiwan - from Consumer Behavior Perspective

蔡宜芳(I-Fang Tsai)

指導教授 ： 黃崇興

國立臺灣大學/管理學院/商學組/碩士(2011年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU.2011.03048

摘要

民眾對於維持健康需求日增，人口快速老化，加上慢性病患者增加，造成健保赤字日益嚴重，若能讓民眾有能力正確使用非處方藥做自我藥療，不僅符合民眾自我保健的需求，也能夠緩解醫療財務的負擔；台灣健保赤字逐年增加，然而，台灣的非處方藥市場卻逐年下降，且與國際市場趨勢難以接軌，使得有心想在台灣推廣非處方藥的國內外藥廠感到困難重重。

本研究藉由與中華民國藥品行銷協會和AC Nielsen合作以訪談相關利益團體以及問卷調查所得結果，進行分析消費者自我藥療行為及其外在環境因素，希望研究結果，提供有心想要在台灣推廣非處方藥的廠商，作為未來與不同利益團體合作、引進新產品以及與消費者溝通的參考，期使擴大國內非處方藥產業，緩解岌岌可危的健保財務。

研究結果顯示，在外在環境的因素中：
1. 政府未有明確的政策將非處方藥納入國家的健康照護的一環，致使相關醫藥政策，如健保管理以及藥政管理未能善用非處方藥的重要性，造成醫藥資源的浪費及新產品引進的速度很慢，消費者可選擇的品類很少。
2. 不同利益團體間，存在利益的衝突，比如醫師並不鼓勵自我用藥，藥局專業能力及形象未受到信賴。
3. 還有民眾在意願上多依賴健保的『免費藥品』，不太可能樂於自費購買，而在同時消費者在用藥知識的不足或未能有可信賴的藥物資訊參考，都是影響消費者寧願看醫生而不使用非處方藥的因素。

進一步了解消費者的行為，可看到：
1. 台灣的民眾有很高的健康保健意識，然而，當身體有輕微疾病時，自己購買非處方藥來處理自己的輕微疾病時，買非處方藥來使用的意願很低 (34%)。
2. 主要原因在於對醫師的高度信任，對醫師開的處方藥較為信賴，到藥局購買藥物時不太滿意的經驗，以及用藥知識的缺乏，同時，民眾並未有一個可靠的管道了解會學習保健或用藥相關的正確知識。
3. 這些民眾自我藥療的影響因素及態度與相關利益團體的訪談的觀察相同，顯示這些因素是影響消費者不使用非處方藥的因素。

關鍵字

非處方藥 ； 指示藥品 ； 自我藥療 ； 自我照護 ； 全民健保 ； 消費者行為 ； 醫藥政策 ； 輕微疾病

並列摘要

The increasing trend in consumer awareness and interest in self-care, aging society, emerging chronic disease and healthcare cost have driven the importance of self-medication. To encourage the consumers taking non-prescription correctly so as to meet the Taiwan publics’ need and eliminate the healthcare financial burden. Many OTC players would like to take the opportunity. However, the non-prescription market in Taiwan declined in the past years nevertheless the global market trend is in the acceleration of growth. This has frustrated the OTC players in Taiwan.

This study analyzes the consumer behavior and attitudes in self-medication and external factors affecting the behavior based on the outcomes obtained from the consumer research and stakeholder interview. The purpose is to get the consumer insights in self-medication and the external affecting factors and offer the opportunity and recommendation for the OTC players to introduce new products, work with stakeholders and communicate with the consumers and hope to facilitate the growth of this emerging industry and reduce the healthcare cost.

The outcomes of this study show, the external factors include:

1. No clear healthcare policy in self-medication causes insufficient regulatory framework to allow new product introduction to the market.
2. Neither no support from the medical professional since physicians do not encourage consumers to do self-medication and pharmacists are not well-trusted.
3. The compulsory health insurance system leads the public to visit doctors at low cost and take "free” medicines.
4. Furthermore, the consumers do not have sufficient knowledge in use of medicines and neither no reliable source of information to learn the knowledge.

Further probe from the consumer research, it finds:
1. The general public in Taiwan are with high degree of awareness in self-care. Contrarily, only few people (34%) are willing to buy non-prescription drugs when feeling minor ailment.
2. The main reason suggests doctors and their prescribed medication still earn high degree of trust and confidence by the majority of general public. In addition, the unsatisfied experience in purchasing non-prescription medicines in pharmacy, no proper knowledge to self-select or use the medicines and no reliable source of knowledge to learn are also the main reasons people do not purchase non-prescription drugs.
3. These finds can also reflect the same outcomes obtained from the stakeholders’ interview.

並列關鍵字

Non-prescription medicines ； OTC drug ； self-medication ； self-care ； National Health Insurance ； consumer behavior ； healthcare policy ； minor aliments

參考文獻

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5. UK Study, British Market Research Bureau, May 1997

一、中文部分