Beyond-Use Date (BUD) refers to the unsafe period of drug consumption and is calculated from the moment of opening the primary package. Meanwhile, Indonesia has no current related data, in terms of public awareness. Therefore, this research aims to assess the BUD perception of North Jakarta communities and pharmacists’ roles in providing the relevant information. The data collection process employed a semi-structural interview across 6 districts in the research location between September-November 2019, followed by data transcription and thematic development. Based on 60 informants recruited by purposive sampling, three themes were obtained, including residual drug storage, pharmacists’ contributions, and BUD awareness. Furthermore, about 97% of the respondents were completely unaware of the subject matter, while 100% denied having any form of sensitization from pharmacists. The perception of 50% were based on the expiration date labelled on the medications. In summary, North Jakarta community’s views were possibly influenced by very poor BUD knowledge. Therefore, the role of pharmacists in educating patients and communities appears very essential.

Self-medication is defined as self treatment and self-diagnose for conditions such as cough, flu, fever, pain, stomach ulcers, worms, diarrhea, rash, and some other minor illnesses. Based on the data from Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Kesehatan Kementerian Kesehatan RI (2013), there were 103.860 of 294.959 households (35,2%) in Indonesia which store medicines for selfmedication (including 35,7% “Obat Keras” or “Gevaarlijk” and 27,8% antibiotics). DKI Jakarta (56,4%) is the highest province with respect to stored medicines. Some studies have found that 40-62% of antibiotics are not used properly. The inappropriate use of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance risk and can be life-threatening for people in every part of the world. To address this problem, this community service was conducted to provide information about selfmedication of influenza and cough illness and to improve people’s knowledge in the proper use of antibiotics. Lecturing was chosen as the method for explaining the rational use of antibiotics and participants were requested to fill out a questionnaire. This activity was attended by 34 participants (and 32 participants filled out the questionnaire). About 13 participants (40,6%) provided correct answers to questions on the proper use of antibiotics. Twenty six participants (81,25%) said they had previously used antibiotics, 14 of them (53,85%) admitted to purchasing antibiotics without a prescription. Antibiotics are taken to treat symptoms such as runny nose, cough, sore throat, fever, and other conditions. A total of 7 participants (26,92%) admitted taking antibiotics with dosage modification and 8 participants (30,77%) switched one type of antibiotics with another type of antibiotics. Based on the results, we concluded that people did not have sufficient knowledge about the rational use of antibiotics. We suggested that counseling about the proper use of antibiotics should be improved.

Pharmacy education in Indonesia mainly involves a four-year undergraduate degree, followed by a one-year professional pharmacy programme. The curriculum and learning outcomes of undergraduate and professional pharmacy programmes follow academic standards set by the Association of Indonesian Pharmacy Higher Education, based on the Seven Star Pharmacist concept developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Most pharmacy undergraduate programmes are focused on general pharmacy skills and knowledge, which includes pharmaceutical sciences and clinical pharmacy. Professional pharmacy programmes provide more pharmacy practice training and skills; thus, graduates have broader career opportunities than undergraduates because they are prepared for higher responsibilities within pharmacy practice. Although there have been significant improvements in pharmacy education, there remain challenges related to government policies, stakeholder agreements, educational offerings, competencies, and training. This requires considerable collective efforts from the government, educational systems, associations, and other stakeholders to improve the role of pharmacists in Indonesia.

Objective: In extemporaneous compounding, drugs’ stability is indicated by beyond-use date (BUD), which is different from the expiration date determined by manufacturers, hence, pharmacists are required to provide proper BUD information to patients. A recent study showed that BUD knowledge in the North Jakarta community is low, therefore, this study aims to examine the prevalence of Indonesian pharmacists’ BUD knowledge regarding various non-sterile dosage forms. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved Indonesian pharmacists’ knowledge of serving extemporaneous prescriptions. Recruitment was carried out through the purposive and snow-balling sampling method, while data were obtained by filling out a validated authors’ designed questionnaire, with total 34 questions, and collected in September 2021 and then analyzed using the chi-square test. Results: Among the 221 total respondents, 93.7% had BUD knowledge, while 12.7% responded that BUD and expiration date are similar. Regarding BUD for crushed tablets, dry syrup without preservatives, and ointment without moisture, there were 13.1%, 82.8%, and 29.4% responded rightly, respectively. Furthermore, there was no correlation between BUD knowledge and respondents’ characteristics, including health-care workplace and location, as well as gender, and age with p>0.05. Conclusion: Based on the results, the Indonesian pharmacists were considered to have inadequate BUD knowledge, specifically on crushed tablets and ointment, and this might affect drugs’ safety.

Pharmacists and pharmaceutical personnel need to support improving the people’s quality of life during the covid-19 outbreak by providing pharmaceutical services, one of which is the Drug Information Service (PIO). Many regions in Indonesia, including DKI Jakarta, have placed large-scale social restrictions since March 2020. In connection with that, the Department of Pharmacy of Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (PSFUAJ) organized an online PIO program. This program aimed to provide the service of Covid-19 drug-related information and education to the community. The PIO was carried out from April to July 2020 via whatsapp, email, and telephone. In addition, health education was provided through e-flyers, published on Instagram @pio_farmasi_uaj. Eighty percent of the questions were submitted via whatsapp, while the rest was sent via email. Most of the questions submitted (80%) were categorized into self-edication. Further examination shows that the common questions were related to drug choice (27.78%). These data indicate that most questioners tend to provide self-medication first and that they will only see a doctor if they have not recovered or experienced any improvement. PSFUAJ will continue running this program and disseminating this program to a broader audience.