The role of pharmacists in the procurement of over-the-counter medicines

One of the responsibilities of a pharmacist is to provide a quality pharmaceutical service during which the specialist must select over-the-counter drugs and provide pharmaceutical information about them. With the increasing availability of over-the-counter medicines the proliferation of medicines and various sources of information about them self-medication is becoming an increasingly common practice. Pharmacists play an important role in preventing irrational drug use. Aim: To determine the importance of pharmacy specialists in selecting over-the-counter medicines in Raseiniai city. Methodology: Participants of the study are 380 residents of Raseiniai and 23 pharmacists. The object of the research is the opinion of Raseiniai city residents and pharmacy specialists. Instrument used to analyze the study was an anonymous questionnaire. Results: The study found that the majority of pharmacy visitors (34,1 %) buy over-the-counter medicines for pain relief, and the biggest influence on their choice of over-the-counter medicines is made by a pharmacy specialist (40,3 %), whose competence is beyond doubt in 93,4 % of Raseiniai city residents. The main drug-related problems perceived by pharmacists are inappropriate dosing (27,8 %) and non-compliance with pharmacist instructions (27,8 %). The majority of pharmaceutical specialists (91,3 %) believe that the purchase of medicines at retail outlets encourages the use of medicines, which is supported by only a small part of the residents (31,8 %). Conclusions: Residents of Raseiniai city consider a pharmacist as an intermediary between a doctor and a patient and evaluate its importance with 8.8 points out of 10. Pharmacists provide clear and comprehensible information about medicines to ensure the rational use of medicines, but by doing it they face certain problems. The main problem is the reluctance of pharmacy visitors to listen to the pharmacist's advice. Comparing the attitudes of pharmacists and the residents it was found that pharmacists (91.3 %) evaluate the purchase of over-the-counter medicines at retail outlets more negative than the residents (21.6 %) (p