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The Awareness of Risks Associated with OTC Drugs Available in Non-Pharmacy Outlets among Polish Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Many OTC drugs are available in non-pharmacy outlets, and as such the risk of overuse and/or improper use of this class of drugs is more likely. In light of this observation, our study was conducted with the aim of exploring opinions on non-pharmaceutical distribution among Polish patien...

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Autores principales: Dulęba, Jacek, Religioni, Urszula, Słodka, Emilia, Fal, Andrzej, Krysiński, Jerzy, Merks, Piotr
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7916134/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572366
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020187
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author Dulęba, Jacek
Religioni, Urszula
Słodka, Emilia
Fal, Andrzej
Krysiński, Jerzy
Merks, Piotr
author_facet Dulęba, Jacek
Religioni, Urszula
Słodka, Emilia
Fal, Andrzej
Krysiński, Jerzy
Merks, Piotr
author_sort Dulęba, Jacek
collection PubMed
description Background: Many OTC drugs are available in non-pharmacy outlets, and as such the risk of overuse and/or improper use of this class of drugs is more likely. In light of this observation, our study was conducted with the aim of exploring opinions on non-pharmaceutical distribution among Polish patients. This study was a part of an informative project to educate patients about the possible risks associated with the use of OTC medicines. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among Polish patients in which we used an authorial questionnaire, previously tested via content, face validity, and a pilot study. The questionnaire was distributed both electronically and in a traditional form. Results: ‘Time saving’ had a statistically significant role in the patient’s decision about purchasing drugs in a non-pharmacy outlet (p = 0.0052; R = 0.276994). The lack of a pharmacist’s consultation/advice (p = 0.0072; R = −0.3290490), improper storage (p = 0.0044; R = −0.238246), risk of overdose (p = 0.0125; R = −0.189564), and the risk of purchasing out-of-date drugs (p = 0.0125; R = −0.145411), as well as the risk of purchasing falsified drugs (p = 0.0265; R = −0.159428), were all associated with the patient’s non-willingness to purchase drugs in non-pharmacy outlets. Patients supported the idea of the elimination of non-pharmacy outlet distribution (p = 0.0074; R = −0.195932); they also emphasized that they are advocates of purchasing drugs only in community pharmacies (p = 0.0006; R = −0.238625). Conclusion: Patients are aware of the risks associated with buying drugs outside of community pharmacies. They perceived pharmacists as professional health care advisors and supported the fact that OTC drugs should be available only via pharmaceutical distribution.
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spelling pubmed-79161342021-03-01 The Awareness of Risks Associated with OTC Drugs Available in Non-Pharmacy Outlets among Polish Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study Dulęba, Jacek Religioni, Urszula Słodka, Emilia Fal, Andrzej Krysiński, Jerzy Merks, Piotr Healthcare (Basel) Article Background: Many OTC drugs are available in non-pharmacy outlets, and as such the risk of overuse and/or improper use of this class of drugs is more likely. In light of this observation, our study was conducted with the aim of exploring opinions on non-pharmaceutical distribution among Polish patients. This study was a part of an informative project to educate patients about the possible risks associated with the use of OTC medicines. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among Polish patients in which we used an authorial questionnaire, previously tested via content, face validity, and a pilot study. The questionnaire was distributed both electronically and in a traditional form. Results: ‘Time saving’ had a statistically significant role in the patient’s decision about purchasing drugs in a non-pharmacy outlet (p = 0.0052; R = 0.276994). The lack of a pharmacist’s consultation/advice (p = 0.0072; R = −0.3290490), improper storage (p = 0.0044; R = −0.238246), risk of overdose (p = 0.0125; R = −0.189564), and the risk of purchasing out-of-date drugs (p = 0.0125; R = −0.145411), as well as the risk of purchasing falsified drugs (p = 0.0265; R = −0.159428), were all associated with the patient’s non-willingness to purchase drugs in non-pharmacy outlets. Patients supported the idea of the elimination of non-pharmacy outlet distribution (p = 0.0074; R = −0.195932); they also emphasized that they are advocates of purchasing drugs only in community pharmacies (p = 0.0006; R = −0.238625). Conclusion: Patients are aware of the risks associated with buying drugs outside of community pharmacies. They perceived pharmacists as professional health care advisors and supported the fact that OTC drugs should be available only via pharmaceutical distribution. MDPI 2021-02-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7916134/ /pubmed/33572366 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020187 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Dulęba, Jacek
Religioni, Urszula
Słodka, Emilia
Fal, Andrzej
Krysiński, Jerzy
Merks, Piotr
The Awareness of Risks Associated with OTC Drugs Available in Non-Pharmacy Outlets among Polish Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study
title The Awareness of Risks Associated with OTC Drugs Available in Non-Pharmacy Outlets among Polish Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full The Awareness of Risks Associated with OTC Drugs Available in Non-Pharmacy Outlets among Polish Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr The Awareness of Risks Associated with OTC Drugs Available in Non-Pharmacy Outlets among Polish Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed The Awareness of Risks Associated with OTC Drugs Available in Non-Pharmacy Outlets among Polish Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study
title_short The Awareness of Risks Associated with OTC Drugs Available in Non-Pharmacy Outlets among Polish Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort awareness of risks associated with otc drugs available in non-pharmacy outlets among polish patients—a cross-sectional study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7916134/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33572366
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020187
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