[Medicating outside the consulting room].
BACKGROUND
Self-medication is a means, besides changing one's lifestyle, of buying and taking non-prescription medicaments. This practice has several advantages. People save time and energy by not sitting for hours in the consulting room of the doctor with a simple ailment, and the doctors also have more time to deal with those requiring more serious treatment. Moreover, the expenditures of the state also decrease, as patients do not visit the doctor but buy non-prescription, i.e. non-supported, medicaments.


OBJECTIVE
The authors surveyed the habits and demands of a survey population concerning non-prescription medicaments, primarily in the pharmacies of Fejér county. A marketing research programme was completed in order to establish better co-operation between patients and pharmacists, within the framework of which 1450 questionnaires were distributed from March to June in 2005, 743 of which were completed and evaluated.


METHODS
The authors examined, whether there were differences within the answers given to professional questions (questions 1-25 of the questionnaire) through sex, age, qualifications and earning power. Answers were analyzed by statistical methods. Statistical analyses were carried out with the SPSS 13.0 program group. Those results were published, where significant differences were found.


RESULTS
Half of the respondents take medicaments regularly, 65% of them watch advertisements about medicaments several times a day. 40% of those surveyed consult a professionally-qualified person about their decision before buying non-prescription medicaments. The population obtains much information from the brochures enclosed with medicaments, and almost 70% of them read these brochures. According to their opinions, when buying non-prescription products, pharmacists always recommend other possibilities as well, and they give details about the information concerning the application of the medicaments.


CONCLUSIONS
In order for people to use non-prescription products properly, it would be definitely necessary to elaborate a successful national education strategy. The population expects information concerning medicaments to be communicated in the pharmacies in an understandable way. It should be in the pharmacy where patients learn about the medicaments they take, where the pharmacist knows what other medicines have been prescribed by a doctor, and whether patients have any illnesses whereby they should not take other products.
Major
Csilla
C
Semmelweis Egyetem, Egyetemi Gyógyszertár, Gyógyszerügyi Szervezési Intézet, Budapest, Hungary. majorcsilla@invitel.hu
Vincze
Zoltán
Z
Meskó
Attiláné
A
Balogh
Judit
J
Zelkó
Romána
R
Németh
Erzsébet
E
D000061:Accidents, Home; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods*; D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002400:Cathartics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003139:Common Cold / Q000188:drug therapy; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D016527:Drug Costs; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D008297:Male; D040541:Marketing; D008875:Middle Aged; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D016524:Parental Leave; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012651:Self Medication; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014815:Vitamins / Q000627:therapeutic use
D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents; D002400:Cathartics; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs; D014815:Vitamins