Title: Patient perspectives to self medication in a community pharmacy setting in Malta.
Objective: To determine the perspectives of patients regarding OTC medication, incidence of irresponsible medication, reasons for, predisposing factors that contribute to, and methods used to reduce these events from occurring. The misuse and abuse of OTC medications was also discussed.
Design: Questionnaire of approximately 15 minutes duration administered using a structured interview technique.
Setting: National Pharmacy, Hamrun, Malta.
Subjects: 200 people above the age of 16 years entering the pharmacy.
Results: Three quarters of participants visited a community pharmacy at least once a month and over half of participants (56.5%) reported buying OTC drugs during the same period. Most respondents (85%) preferred seeking advice from a chemist rather than a doctor when their condition was not serious enough to visit the latter. Patients with higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations were more likely to follow the directions on the packet. Patients with manual occupations were more likely to seek the advice of a pharmacist rather than a doctor if a given OTC product did not work within a recommended time period. Only 1% of participants asked for an OTC product that did not correspond with the symptoms they were treating. Three quarters of participants were knowledgeable about the potential for abuse of some OTC drugs and most named analgesics as the most liable for abuse. Almost one third (31.5%) of the participants came across cases of OTC abuse.
Conclusion: Participants were positive towards the health care being provided by their local pharmacy. They felt that pharmacists play an important role in providing advice on OTC medicines use. The OTC drug abuse problem needs to be tackled urgently as shown by the number of participants witnessing such abuse. Further studies are required to determine on a larger scale the perspectives of OTC use in Malta.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Maltese Health Care System
- Maltese Classification of Pharmaceuticals
- Cost of medicines in Malta - Economic Aspects
- Deregulation from POM to P
- Collaborative Care
- Misuse vs. Abuse
- OTC misuse
- OTC abuse
- Studies on OTC use (self medication)
- Aims and objectives
- Methodology
- Literature Review
- Modifications to questionnaire of Waizaify et al. 2005
- Validity testing
- Administration of Questionnaire
- Structure of questionnaire
- Coding data into SPSS
- Analysis of Data
- Researching published studies into OTC drug related trends to aid in improving pharmaceutical care
- Results
- Reliability testing
- Demographics
- Patient interaction with a local pharmacy
- Views on OTC use
- OTC selection
- OTC abuse
- Discussion
- Drug-related trends to improve pharmaceutical care
- Drug adherence
- Health Literacy
- OTC abuse
- Facilitating behaviour change
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This thesis investigates the perspectives of patients regarding over-the-counter (OTC) medication in a community pharmacy setting in Malta. It aims to determine the incidence of irresponsible medication use, the reasons for and contributing factors, as well as methods employed to reduce these occurrences. The study also explores the misuse and abuse of OTC medications.- Patient perspectives on OTC medication use
- Incidence of irresponsible medication use (misuse and abuse)
- Reasons for and contributing factors to irresponsible OTC use
- Methods to reduce irresponsible OTC use
- The misuse and abuse of OTC medications
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
- Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of the Maltese health care system and the classification of pharmaceuticals. It explores the economic aspects of medicine costs in Malta and discusses the deregulation of certain drugs from prescription-only to over-the-counter (OTC) status. The chapter concludes by defining misuse and abuse in relation to OTC medication and examining previous studies on self-medication practices.
- Aims and objectives: This chapter outlines the study's specific aims and objectives, focusing on understanding patient perspectives on OTC medication use, identifying factors contributing to irresponsible use, and exploring methods to mitigate these issues.
- Methodology: This chapter describes the research methodology employed in the study. It includes a detailed explanation of the questionnaire design, its modification from previous studies, and the process of validity testing. The chapter also outlines the administration of the questionnaire, including the structure and coding of data into SPSS software for analysis.
- Results: This chapter presents the findings of the study, covering aspects such as demographics of the participants, their interactions with community pharmacies, views on OTC use, selection criteria for OTC medications, and experiences with OTC abuse.
- Discussion: This chapter analyzes the findings of the study, discussing drug-related trends to improve pharmaceutical care, drug adherence, health literacy, and the prevalence of OTC abuse. The chapter also explores potential strategies for facilitating behavior change related to OTC medication use.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
This study focuses on patient perspectives towards OTC medication in a community pharmacy setting in Malta. Key themes include OTC misuse and abuse, patient perceptions, drug adherence, health literacy, and facilitating behavior change related to OTC medication use. The study also highlights the importance of pharmacists in providing advice and guidance on responsible OTC medication use.- Citar trabajo
- Michael Debrincat (Autor), 2011, Patient perspectives to self medication in a community pharmacy setting in Malta., Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/265172
