Societal perspectives on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines

Wazaify, Mayyada

doi:10.1093/fampra/cmh723

Cited by 169 publications

(220 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The proportion of respondents who preferred to use the same pharmacy (55%) was slightly lower than in previous studies conducted in other countries 10,18,19 and in England, where it varies, being higher in rural locations 15,20 . Our findings may be due to our sample being primarily suburban.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

Public attitudes towards community pharmacy attributes and preferences for methods for promotion of public health services

et al. 2016

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Objective: To identify attitudes towards pharmacy characteristics and promotional methods for selected pharmacy public health services (lifestyle advice and screening for cardiovascular risk factors) among different sectors of the general public. Study design:Cross-sectional survey, using a previously validated questionnaire.Methods: Three survey methods were used, across 15 areas of England, to maximise diversity: face-to-face, telephone and self-completion of paper questionnaires. Responses to closed questions regarding characteristics and promotion were quantified and differences among sub-groups explored by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results:In total, 2,661 responses were available for analysis: 2,047 face-to-face, 301 telephone and 313 paper. There were strong preferences for a pharmacy near to home or doctor's surgery and for long opening hours, particularly among employed people and nonwhites. Fifty percent preferred not to use a pharmacy in a supermarket, particularly older people, the retired, those of lower education and frequent pharmacy users. Personal recommendation by health professionals or family/friends was reported as most likely to encourage uptake of pharmacy public health services, with older people and males being less likely and frequent pharmacy users more likely perceive any promotional method as influential. Posters/leaflets were preferred over mass media methods, with fewer than 30% perceiving the latter as potentially influential. Conclusion:Pharmacists, pharmacy companies and service commissioners should use promotional methods favoured by potential users of pharmacy public health services and be aware of differences in attitudes when trying to reach specific population sub-groups. For personal recommendation to be successful good inter-professional working and a pro-active approach to existing customers are needed.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

Public attitudes towards community pharmacy attributes and preferences for methods for promotion of public health services

et al. 2016

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“…In our study, individuals who were dependent on non-prescription medicine use informed us that they were never asked by pharmacy staff about their motive of procurement of medicines and this observation is in concordance with a recent survey conducted in UK. 20 A gross over-usage of non-prescription antibiotics, that too not taken for a full course, by most of the patients of URTI was found recently. The study has shown that lack of awareness in the patients could increase the drug resistance problem and awareness about the branded drugs being costlier than the generic drugs was also not there.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Extent and Factors Associated with Non-Prescription Medicine Use in Eastern India – A Cross-Sectional Survey

Das¹,

Choudhury²,

Santra³

et al. 2017

JYP

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Objective: To assess the extent, pattern and determinants of non-prescription medicine use in an urban area of eastern India. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey with total 392 subjects was carried out for 3 months by a structured questionnaire to assess the extent, pattern and determinants of non-prescription medicine use amongst the patients at a community retail medicine shop and a pharmacy running in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in a government hospital. Results: Our study found that 61.4% of the consumers indulged in the practice of self-medication. The commonest reason for self medication was a prevailing tendency in the community followed by cost-saving and convenience. The most commonly used medicines were antacids (43.4%) followed by analgesics-antipyretics (42.6%). It was found that only 12.5% completed an ongoing course of antibiotics. Consumption of ORS was commoner in diarrhoea than vomiting and only a few (13%) of the patients dissolved the ORS powder as directed. Only 9.7% of the subjects thought non-prescription medicine use is safe. Regarding the various types of medicine preparations used by them from the two types of pharmacy, a significant difference was noted only for eye drops (p = 0.003). This result might have been obtained due to prevailing ocular infections in the selected study population and underreporting at the Ophthalmology OPD of the nearest hospital. Conclusion: The current study has documented the extent of, factors associated with, and the pattern of non-prescription medicine use resulting in a surge of self-medication practice in urban area.Key words: Non-prescription medicine use, Self-medication, PPP model, Retail pharmacy, Survey. Key message: Given the increasing emphasis on self-care and empowering the public to manage their health with non-prescription medicines, the findings highlight the need for improved pharmacovigilance of these medicines to maximize benefits with minimal risk. Healthcare providers need to be aware of the potential for misuse, abuse and dependence, particularly in patients with long-term illness. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

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“…This is alongside a tailored approach to provision of medicine information (written, verbal or combined) to particular groups of customers requesting codeine (Hamrosi, Raynor et al 2013;Hamrosi, Raynor et al 2014). In this context the community pharmacy is a trusted source of consumer advice and information around safe and appropriate use of medicines (Wazaify, Shields et al 2005;French and James 2008) and would need to play a central role in information giving to users at point of dispensing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Exploration of Community Pharmacists’ Views on the Nature and Management of Over-the-Counter (OTC) and Prescription Codeine Misuse in Three Regulatory Regimes: Ireland, South Africa and the United Kingdom

Carney

Wells

Bergin

et al. 2016

Int J Ment Health Addiction

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A comparative exploration of community pharmacists' views on the nature and management of Over-the-Counter (OTC) and Prescription codeine misuse in three regulatory regimes; Ireland, South Africa and the United Kingdom. AbstractMisuse of codeine containing preparations is a public health concern given the potential for associated harms and dependence. This study explores the perspectives of community pharmacists in three regulatory regimes on issues of customer misuse of over the counter (OTC) and prescribed codeine containing preparations. A qualitative design comprising six focus groups (n=45) was conducted in Ireland, United Kingdom, South Africa. Transcripts were analysed using the constant comparative method of content analysis. Pharmacists described popular codeine containing products; the need for improved medicine information and warning labels. Issues around legitimate availability of codeine and regulatory status; presence of therapeutic need; difficulties in customer-pharmacist communication; business environments and retail focus were raised. Participants also discussed how they identified customers potentially misusing codeine; customer pharmacy 'hopping' and difficulties in relationships between pharmacists and prescribers. Specialist training; reimbursement for customer consultation; screening and brief interventions; visible referral structures and assisted community pharmacy detoxification were discussed as ways to manage the issues. The study highlights the difficulties encountered by community pharmacists operating under various regulatory regimes when supplying codeine containing preparations in negotiating patient awareness and compliance and dealing with misuse and dependence. Key WordsCodeine containing preparations; Misuse; Community pharmacy; Pharmacists; RegulationWhat is known about this topic 2  Over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription codeine containing products, as dispensed in pharmacies, have the potential for misuse and dependence. Different countries have different regulations with regards to the provision and display of codeine and level of pharmacist intervention at point of sale. Strategies which prevent and address codeine misuse include screening, information provision and referral. What this paper adds Pharmacists in Ireland, South Africa, and the UK have multiple roles and face a number of challenges related to financial and time resources; perceptions of the pharmacist profession and advising on safe and appropriate use of medication, not only codeine. Pharmacists have their own ways to identify customers who may be misusing codeine, but customers' strategies such as 'pharmacy hopping' and some use of online pharmacies make this challenging. Support and referral interventions are provided by pharmacists, but these are not standard, and more information is needed on which services to refer customers to for codeine misuse.

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Societal perspectives on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines

Abstract: This survey revealed that the general public had a high level of awareness of the abuse potential of OTC medicines. These findings indicate that pharmacists could be more proactive in the management of inappropriate OTC drug use.

Cited by 169 publications

References 21 publications

Public attitudes towards community pharmacy attributes and preferences for methods for promotion of public health services

Public attitudes towards community pharmacy attributes and preferences for methods for promotion of public health services

The Extent and Factors Associated with Non-Prescription Medicine Use in Eastern India – A Cross-Sectional Survey

A Comparative Exploration of Community Pharmacists’ Views on the Nature and Management of Over-the-Counter (OTC) and Prescription Codeine Misuse in Three Regulatory Regimes: Ireland, South Africa and the United Kingdom

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