Pharmacy customers’ knowledge of side effects of purchased medicines in Mexico

Abstract

Summaryobjectives To analyse pharmacy customers' knowledge and information sources about side effects of medicines they purchased and factors associated with this knowledge.methods Cross-sectional survey and semi-structured interviews with customers of 52 randomly selected community pharmacies in Morelos state, Mexico. Customers were included if they were older than 18 years, bought at least one drug either with or without medical prescription, and agreed to take part in the survey. Data were analysed using a multinomial logistic regression model.results A total of 1445 customers buying 1946 drugs were surveyed (age 42.9 ± 15.7 years, 56.9% female); 627 (59%) of 1055 customers who purchased prescription-only medicines (POM) did so without a prescription. Of all customers interviewed, 172 (11.9%) affirmed that the bought medicine(s) could cause harm. Only half of those (87 or 6%) were able to identify correctly at least one side effect of the purchased medicines. The majority received the information about side effects from a physician. Customers in semirural areas knew less about side effects (odds ratio: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.11-0.61; P = 0.00); whereas customers buying medicines for chronic pain, hypertension or diabetes knew more (odds ratio 2.63; 95% CI: 1.44-4.80; P = 0.00).conclusion The overall majority of customers did not know that medicines they bought could be harmful. This is particularly alarming because they frequently used POM without consulting a physician.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Pharmacovigilance and Consumer Pharmacovigilance among Consumers at Lalitpur District, Nepal

“…33,34 Lay persons have few problems with regards to the understanding of the types of ADRs. 35 In the present study, respondents with bachelor level of education had better scores for knowledge and total KAP scores. This result confirms that bachelor level of education have better awareness and perceptions towards ADR reporting.…”

“…11 These efforts may reduce the suffering due to ADRs. 35 Nearly 14% of consumers in our study stated that "proper knowledge helps in appropriate utilization of medicines. "…”

“…This response from consumers is also in accordance with a study done by researchers in 2009 which focused on educating consumers for reporting ADRs and about the process for reporting ADRs. 35 Consumers have a right to obtain proper information about their medicines. 11 These efforts may reduce the suffering due to ADRs.…”

Patients’ use of and attitudes towards self-medication in rural and remote Slovenian family medicine practices: a cross-sectional multicentre study

“…The general public's view on the safety of self-medication is that drugs and remedies for self-medication are completely safe and can be used without any precautions 6 . However, this can result in inappropriate use, a manifestation of serious side effects, or dangerous interactions with conventional medicines 7,8 .…”

Lost in translation: Medication labeling for immigrant families

“…In Hispanic communities in the US where pharmacists do not act as primary-care providers, families may suffer from confusion about medications, including indications and dosing. 7,12 Due to limited Spanish speaking pharmacists, and translation services many new Latin American immigrants may face barriers to building similar relationships with their pharmacists. 13 Research has shown that the language barrier is only one component in prescription labeling understanding.…”