Advice-giving on self-medication: perspectives of community pharmacists and consumers in Singapore.
BACKGROUND
In Singapore, community pharmacists provide an advice-giving service to consumers who seek self-medication for minor ailments management. This service has not been studied formally from the perspectives of pharmacists and consumers.


OBJECTIVE
The study aimed to identify (i) the approach taken by pharmacists in providing advice for self-medication and (ii) consumers' behaviour in self-treatment and their perception of the advice-giving role of the community pharmacist.


METHODS
The pharmacists and consumers were surveyed independently using two structured questionnaires.


CONCLUSIONS
All community pharmacists who participated in the survey were confident in providing advice on self-medication. However, none of them recorded the consultations and only 17.5% of them had documented their general physician referrals. Most consumers (66.3%) would self-medicate and only consult a professional when the desired outcome was not achieved. Less than 10% of consumers would approach the pharmacists as the first option for advice. More than half of the pharmacists felt that the advice they rendered deserved a fee whereas only 28.4% of the consumers were willing to pay. Both parties thought the fee should not be more than S5 dollars (US3 dollars).


CONCLUSIONS
Generally, there is congruence in the perspectives on self-medication between the advice-giving pharmacist and the consumer. The consumers still lack awareness that pharmacists can help them to self-medicate more safely and effectively. Therefore, more effort in public education is warranted. The current state of poor documentation of the advisory function of community pharmacists should be improved.
Chui
W K
WK
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore. phacwk@nus.edu.sg
Li
S C
SC
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010595:Pharmacists; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012651:Self Medication; D012846:Singapore